‘We need some help’: Echuca man pleads for disaster declaration

An Echuca man who lives outside the levee built to protect most of the town from floodwaters has pleaded for the Premier to declare a state of disaster.

Nick Dean says residents desperately need services which aren’t being provided because there hasn’t been a disaster declared.

“It then allows the emergency people, the different organisations, access to here. We’ve got people driving to Swan Hill to get medications because the pharmacies here are out,” he told Neil Mitchell.

“We need some help and those agencies can’t come in until Daniel Andrews declares a state of emergency.

“NSW has done it in Moama.”

Press PLAY to hear Nick Dean’s plea to the Premier

Mr Dean says when the temporary levee comes down, it should be rebuilt permanently “where it should have been in the first place”. If it’s not, he says properties which were previously valued at $1 million will become uninsurable.

“You’d be hard pressed to find a sucker to buy them.”

Image: Nine News