Lake Eppalock spillway flows as lake fills to over 100%

It has been a crazy spring so far with more rain falling in Bendigo in September and especially October that has broken all records for rainfall in 48 hours at 117mm and the records go back to 1863!

#Bendigo in Victoria collected 117mm of rain during the 48 hours ending at 9am on Friday. This is Bendigo's highest two-day total on record, with data available back to 1863. pic.twitter.com/I3PvEDtViS
— Ben Domensino (@Ben_Domensino) October 14, 2022

This is going to be a long post with plenty of images and videos from the past few weeks, and I have a few videos to still edit and I’m sure I’ll be out there again soon. The mornings there are amazing right now with still mirror like water and fog overhead.

Ok here we go! First some history, the last time the spillway flowed was 2016. As you can see in the graph below this time round the capacity has skyrocketed causing devastating damage to townships downstream including Rochester and Echuca.

2016 capacity vs 2022 capacity as at Oct 15 2022. Source g-mwater.com.au

April

My last visit before water started flowing into the lake when the water level was around 49%. It took a little longer of a drive to get close to the water on one of the many stretches of land that reached out into the middle.

September

My first visit to the lake this month was on the 11th to have a look around now that the water level had reached 75%! It had been years since it was last at this level.

Main reason I wanted to head out with the drone was to get some footage of the tracks that I could see through the water thinking it would look amazing from high up. I was right, I love how you can see the tracks leading to the now islands.

The video just below shows some views around Randells Cove and the Spillway including the now submerged tracks.

I ended up at the lake many times this month documenting the water level rising. I was hoping it would reach 100% and the spillway would start spilling by the end of the month. It got close! It only took a few more days on October 2 for water to start flowing.

October

This time last year it was at 56% capacity. As of writing (15th) the capacity is at 133% and both spillways are flowing, the second causing damage to the Knowsley-Eppalock road. Rainfall records in Bendigo were broken in October causing the lake to swell well past the 100% mark!.

The videos below cover from October 2 to October 18 with visits either before work or on the weekend, each time heading out early to avoid crowds.