A planning expert said “unequivocal” advice from Melbourne Water was behind his decision that supported the building of villas at Tigcorp’s Rivervue Retirement Village beside the Maribyrnong River in Melbourne below the 1974 flood line.
In 2015, Nick Wimbush backed an amendment – approved by the state government in 2016 – that exempted some land in the retirement village from higher-risk flood rules.
Tigcorp finance general manager Darren Lewis told the inquiry the company felt severely let down after the villas flooded, given it bought the site in 2010 with a planning permit and endorsed plans already in place.
About 70 residents were forced from their homes when 47 villas were inundated in the 14 October 2022 floods.
Melbourne Water's flood modelling completely underestimated the risk to Rivervue, a failure the agency has admitted. The zoning amendment moved the one-in-100 year flood risk closer to the river, which resulted in homes being built on land previously considered unsuitable.
Two residents appeared before a Victorian parliamentary inquiry investigating the disaster last Thursday.
Stanislaw Korkliniewski, who has lived at the retirement village in Avondale Heights, 11km northwest of Melbourne’s CBD, since 2018, said the flooding triggered memories of being displaced after fleeing war-torn Germany in the Second World War.
“The weight of depression, anxiety and panic attacks became my norm,” he told the inquiry.
“Now with medical care I know that the flooding of Rivervue means I have PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder].”
The company relied on Melbourne Water's modelling and relayed information about flooding to residents based on that, he said.
"We're as equally aggrieved (as residents) because from our point of view, we've done nothing wrong."
The SOURCE: Melbourne Water is working with Tigcorp on a site-specific flood management plan.
