A slow-moving landslide has dealt a multimillion-dollar blow to the economy of Falls Creek, severely restricting access to the northern Victorian town and causing the cancellation of events that were crucial to the tourism sector.
Debris covers the main route into Falls Creek on the Bogong High Plains Road and there are fears it could remain closed until Christmas or even longer.
A slow-moving landslide has closed Bogong High Plains Road.
The area received more than 34 millimetres of rain in the 24 hours to 9am on Monday, with more wet weather forecast overnight into Tuesday.
Melbourne will receive up to 15 millimetres of rain on Tuesday followed by light rain through the remainder of the week, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. The bureau also issued a severe thunderstorm warning for north-east Victoria on Monday afternoon.
The Bogong High Plains Road closure comes after three years of severe pandemic-induced disruption for the state’s alpine resorts.
Last week, Falls Creek Alpine Resort management emailed members saying it would take a minimum of two extra hours for emergency services to reach the area through back roads and there was no medical service.
Falls Creek in winter this year, when the resort received plenty of snow.
“Authorities are working towards a relaxation of the road access constraints by Christmas subject to ongoing assessment of the site,” it said. “This is due to the ongoing safety risk.”
Falls Creek resort chief executive Stuart Smythe said the postponement or cancellation of at least five events, including a historical conference, endurance running and mountain bike races, scheduled for November and December, had cost local businesses at least $5.5 million in income.
He said losses would reach $100 million if the village remained isolated throughout the summer.
“It will be the third year in a row the businesses will have had no summer trade,” he said. “That’s devastating our business community.”
A spokeswoman for the Department of Transport said the Bogong High Plains Road remained closed to all users because of heavy rain and the active landslip.
“Access through this site is only permitted for emergency services,” she said.
The road has been closed for more than two weeks since authorities issued the landslide warning as heavy rain drenched the state.
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The warning resulted in an exodus from Falls Creek, although several dozen people still remain at the resort.
On Sunday, emergency services issued an evacuation warning for the nearby Bogong Village due to the landslide.
Cooroona Lodge co-owner Lachlan Beckett said his business stood to lose up to $100,000 because of the road closure. He said the lodge had been fully booked until Christmas but was now closed to visitors.
Beckett said it was mostly only residents who remained in Falls Creek, and he had been told it would be Christmas at the earliest before visitation could properly resume.
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He said the Falls Creek Primary School was closed and it was back to home-schooling for his two children.
“It’s devastating for the kids,” he said.
Beckett said he had opened his restaurant to residents even though it was running at a loss with no tourists to serve. “We’re just trying to provide a wellbeing check-up for everyone.”
YMCA Howmans Gap Discovery Camp manager Michael Jowett said the site near Falls Creek had been booked out but was now unable to receive guests because of the road closure.
“We’ve been impacted so far to the tune of $330,000,” he said.
Jowett said the business stood to lose up to $1.8 million if the closure extended into the middle of 2023.
On Monday, the state and federal governments extended their flood financial support to the alpine resort area of Falls Creek, allowing affected communities to apply for the disaster recovery allowance.
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