A house in McCrae in the state’s Mornington Peninsula was reduced to rubble yesterday after a landslide collapsed it down a steep hill.
Seven evacuated homes remain under threat along with several unoccupied holiday homes, Victoria SES said today.
A council worker, aged in his 50s, was injured in yesterday’s the incident after leaping off a balcony as the home collapsed beneath him.
Sorrento SES Unit Controller Mark Daw told 3AW today’s wet weather in the area could make it a hotbed for more landslips.
Daw said the rainfall forecast in the Mornington Peninsula today could impact the “hot zone” which is 100-150m either side of the landslide.
“We know that there’ll probably be another slip but we’re unsure of how much,” Daw told Heidi Murphy.
“We had a tiny little bit [of movement] at the early, early hours of this morning, which was just 2mm but it has not moved since then.
“We’ve got a lot of thunder and lightning happening, and we’re concerned about the potential for the rain, which we might have up to 20mm coming through this afternoon.”
Seven homes around the area are still evacuated and several other unoccupied homes, which were holiday homes, remain in the danger zone.
Daw said it’s hard to predict if there will be more movement but if the wet weather persists, it could be likely.
The area has seen several minor landslides in the past but he said yesterday’s was a significant one.
“A considerable amount of soil that has come down to push the house off its foundations,” he said.
Evacuated residents may not be able to return to their homes for at least a week as crews assess the area for landslide threats.
