Earthquake strikes Victoria as thousands of homes are wrecked by devastating floods

A 3.4 magnitude earthquake has been recorded in Mansfield, in Victoria’s northeast.

GeoScience Australia reported the quake near the small town in the foothills of the Victorian Alps just after 9am on Wednesday.

The earthquake was at a depth of five kilometres with GeoScience Australia receiving 77 reports from residents who said they felt the tremors so far.

Senior seismologist Professor Phil Cummins said residents in Melbourne could feel the quake despite being more than 220km away. 

‘It was felt as far away as Melbourne with residents reporting light shaking… (but) there has been no reports of damage,’ he told the Herald Sun. 

Prof Cummins said there has been about 40 earthquakes within 100km of Mansfield since the start of the 20th century – with the last striking on September 22, 2021.  

GeoScience Australia reported the quake near the small town in the foothills of the Victorian Alps just after 9am on Wednesday (pictured, the red dot indicates the location of the quake)

The earthquake comes as flood-weary residents across Victoria brace for even more rain (pictured, emergency workers evacuate residents during floods in the Maribyrnong)

Residents in Echuca (pictured) and Moama near the Victorian border have been told to evacuate immediately as the Murray River rises to record levels

Mansfield residents reported hearing a loud ‘boom’ that sounded like an explosion and feeling the ground shake as the quake reverberated beneath them.

‘We were stunned’, one local Peter told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell. 

Director of the Australian Seismological Centre, Kevin McCue, told the radio host the quake was too small to do any damage but had been felt from 20km to 25km away.

The Mansfield & District Community Noticeboard was quickly flooded with posts from locals asking others if they had felt the quake. 

Several said the quake had felt like a truck had slammed into their homes. 

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‘Yes definitely here in Oaksford Drive Mansfield. It felt like a truck dumping a large rock or similar right next to the house!’ one woman wrote. 

‘We had windows rattle and plates shaking too, but was only a second. Oh, and that deep rumble,’ another shared. 

One resident who lives an hour away from Mansfield in Cambridge Drive in Wangaratta, said the tremors had caused his roof to shake. 

The earthquake comes as flood-weary residents in Victoria’s north brace for the crisis to worsen, with residents in Echuca and Moama told to evacuate immediately as the Murray River rises to levels not seen in 150 years. 

A 65-year-old man has found dead by a relative at a property at Nathalia, east of Echuca, after being reported missing on Tuesday evening. 

The man was last seen working on a tractor at a Blacksmiths Road property that afternoon with police to investigate the circumstances of his death. 

Last September, Mansfield was struck by a 5.9 magnitude earthquake which shifted houses and sent books toppling from shelves (pictured, damage from the quake in Chapel Street)

The quake was recorded at a depth of 10km at 9.15am with five aftershocks ranging from 2.4 to 4.1 magnitude within an hour and a sixth at 1.18pm (pictured, damage in Melbourne’s CBD)

Last September, Mansfield was struck by a 5.9 magnitude earthquake which shifted houses, knocked paintings off walls and sent books toppling from shelves. 

The quake was recorded at a depth of 10km at 9.15am with five aftershocks ranging from 2.4 to 4.1 magnitude within an hour and a sixth at 1.18pm. 

Tremors from the quake, which was the biggest Victoria had  experienced since European settlement, were felt as far away as Tasmania, South Australia and some parts of Sydney and caused damage to Melbourne streets. 

In a popular shopping area around Melbourne’s Chapel Street, masonry debris tumbled from buildings and littered the roads.

In a popular shopping area around Melbourne’s Chapel Street, masonry debris tumbled from buildings and littered the roads following a 5.9 magnitude earthquake

Bricks and rubble surrounded Bettys Burgers fast food restaurant and large sheets of metal hung off the restaurant awning.

An woman was riding horses with two others at Merrijig, about 20km west of Mansfield, when the quake struck.

‘It sounded like a huge plane going over the top of us then the power lines overhead just started shaking like crazy,’ she posted on a local Facebook group at the time. 

Another said the earthquake ‘sounded like a freight train’ in Boorolite, about 30km south-east of Mansfield – which is known as a town popular with tourists.