By Callum Ludwig
Long weekends are usually a dream for businesses, especially in a top tourist destination like Warburton, but it quickly turned into a nightmare in the Upper Yarra.
Flooding in Yarra Junction on Thursday 27 October led to serious damage and caused a landslip and road damage on the Warburton Highway between Warburton and Millgrove before strong winds on Sunday 30 October brought trees and left businesses without power.
Warburton Valley Community Community Economic Development Association (WV CEDA) President Cleo Silva said WV CEDA representatives went and visited as many of the Main Street trader businesses in Warburton as they could get to on Saturday afternoon.
“We just really wanted to get an understanding of what their key concerns were particularly with the road closures, before the power outage. We wanted to try and ascertain what the businesses were in need of and obviously, being a long weekend that really impacted on food wastage as more had been ordered in for the long weekend,” she said.
“We offered the businesses an alternative collection point in Wesburn as they were having difficulty getting trucks along Old Warburton Road. Luckily people are largely used to power outages and a few had generators ready, but it did leave the town pretty quiet on Monday.”
WV CEDA represents 96 businesses in the Upper Yarra Valley.
Ms Silva said the most amazing thing about our local businesses is they seem to triumph and triumph again over all the situations and challenges they face.
“The communities come together to support local businesses as best as possible. It’s been a really difficult time but when we visited all the businesses that we could in Yarra Junction and Warburton, it never fails to amaze me how positive and how resilient people are,” she said.
“In these times, the community comes together no matter what, day or night, just to help those people who are the most adversely affected, pick up the pieces and pull things back together and get on as best they can.”
Owner and Founder of Warburton Adventure Company Sam Maddock said unfortunately he had to decide to cancel all their activities as the safest thing to do for staff and customers.
“We had to cancel and refund about $3500 worth of adventure activities. In some of those river environments, making sure they’re maintained and kept up to spec is really important for not just our adventure activities, but also free activities like sitting by the river or having picnics,” he said.
“A lot of our local staff are casuals, and we’re all sort of hoping and praying that the sun comes out and that it’s a really good summer because sometimes you get the feeling that some people might not come out the other side.”
Warburton Adventure Company, the Alpine Hotel and the Warburton Holiday Park had organised a night rider bus to operate between themselves through the weekend for guests, but it was cancelled as the Warburton Holiday Park was forced to close.
Warburton IGA owner Shane Wyles said they were geared up for the long weekend, one of their significant trading periods, and ended up about 25 per cent down on what they expected.
“I drove past the road damage and was worried about something happening there, knowing our trucks wouldn’t be able to get through. One of our major suppliers Metcash was really helpful, but our bread couldn’t get through,” he said.
“Myself and one of the other guys were getting up at 4.30am to go and meet the bread drivers at the back of the Woolies in Seville, loading it into our utes and driving back up over the hill to Warburton. The concern is if something happens again and maybe it is bushfire that blocks the highway, we need a long-term solution and perhaps that involves the other side of the river as well.”
Warburton IGA spent the weekend making sure food supplies could get out to the most vulnerable members of the community, particularly those who relied on public transport.
Mr Wyles said power is also a significant issue in Warburton.
“We have purchased a significant-sized generator so as soon as the power goes out, our generator kicks in and supplies power to our entire shop. Having said that, it has become a regular occurrence and not everyone has that facility we do,” he said.
“It makes it extremely difficult for people to exist with regular power outages. All of the things which are great about Warburton like that small town feeling also make it difficult, because the infrastructure really hasn’t kept up with Warburton becoming a popular tourist area.”
Local accommodation Oscar’s on the Yarra lost 50 per cent of their bookings for the weekend due to the events.
Owner and Manager Christine Birch said even so she feels far more fortunate than many of the businesses in Warburton.
“It does feel one thing after another after another and it does get to a point where you think What’s next?” she said.
“The last couple of years has taught us to be resilient and think outside the box, so we will come up with a way to get by, get creative and do something interesting to survive.”
