The Victorian suburbs where thousands of homes face serious risk of flooding

Almost all homes in some Victorian towns face flooding risks which could potentially make them uninsurable, new analysis by climate risk analysis company Climate Valuation reveals.

Climate Valuation CEO Karl Mellon says it’s a case of “when not if” homes in at risk areas face a situation like the one seen in northern NSW and Queensland in recent weeks.

Analysis indicates 92 per cent of properties in Shepparton face high flood risk, while 8000 could be at risk in Wangaratta, and almost 3000 properties in both Horsham and Mildura could be affected.

Parts of Melbourne are at risk, too.

In Port Phillip 7263 homes have been identified as at high risk, while 3158 could be impacted in Melbourne and 3102 have been named as high risk in Kingston.

“Take a good hard look at what we’ve seen in northern NSW and Queensland. The best thing we can do is try and prepare these communities so that when this does come, and it’s probably a when not if, that they are better prepared and we don’t see the sort of level of tragedy that we’ve seen up there,” Dr Mellon told Neil Mitchell.

He says many people don’t realise they’re at risk.

“What we’re trying to do here is try to get this out to the public so there’s more awareness because a lot of people don’t realise they’re in flood risk zones,” he said.

“The kind of combinations we tend to be worried about are you’re close to a big river, there may not be protections on that river to prevent flooding, the drainage systems may not be able to cope with say a one-in-100 event.”

Press PLAY below to hear which Victorian suburbs are at risk and what can be done