A small number of high care residents were evacuated from an aged care facility in the flood-affected town of Charlton, yesterday [Monday, 6 September].

The rest of the facility was put on standby but no further evacuations were required as the water levels peaked overnight.

However facilities in Donald and Horsham, where floodwaters are still rising, remain on standby.

The areas hit most by the flooding include the Grampians, the Gippsland region and the Hume region.

Aged and Community Care Victoria (ACCV) has been liaising with the Department of Health and its members in effected regions.

“We have been contacting our members in high risk areas, ensuring that they have emergency management plans in place,” said a spokesperson for ACCV.

“The plans are locally implemented and if the facilities need assistance, [they] state that the facilities will contact the police, the SES or Ambulance Victoria."

The state’s health department has incident controllers in each of the effected regions who have been in contact with local aged care facilities.

ACCV has also contacted members providing community care services in the flooded areas to talk about contingency plans for HACC [home and community care] and packaged care clients.