Victorian flood update from our CEO

UPDATE: October 31 2022

Customers and staff have returned to our St Arnaud and Warracknabeal homes. Shepparton customers and staff are safe and will return home in the next few days. Echuca still has flood warnings operating, but plans are in place for customers to return home when safe. Our Rochester home has some minor damage, and customers will return home soon.

We are monitoring flooding to flow to Swan Hill, before water moves on to Mildura. We’ve had time to prepare should local flooding occur.

Our flood appeal in support of customers and staff remains open. If you are in a position to help, all tax-deductible donations go directly to customers and staff impacted by floods. You can donate by clicking here.

Original update

Our attention in recent days has been focussing on supporting our customers and staff across Victoria who have been significantly impacted by floods.

So far, we have had nine of our Victorian homes across Shepparton, Echuca, Rochester, Warracknabeal, and St Arnaud proactively relocate in response to rising water threatening the safety of customers.

All customers and staff are safe. Our impacted staff and customers relocated as a precautionary measure before water had entered any Aruma homes.

The Aruma home in Rochester came close to being inundated and a children’s service in Shepparton may also have been damaged. We’ll not have a full picture of the extent of any damage until waters across the towns recede. We’re also paying attention to Swan Hill and other parts of Victoria that face risk of flooding in the next few days.

Many of our Victorian staff are currently juggling the impact of flooding on their families and at their homes, while also working to support the welfare of Aruma customers. I thank them for their amazing work and assure you we are securing support staff to help if required.

We will continue to watch the situation, prioritise safety and make decisions where required. We hope the rain passes and people can quickly be returned to their homes to limit disruption.

I will be in touch as the situation unfolds and if you have any questions, please make sure you speak to your local teams.

Take care,
Martin