Potholes threaten Victoria's coastal levees protecting popular holiday caravan parks
A small, unfilled hole in the 1970s-era levee at Ocean Grove’s Riverview Caravan Park could worsen, jeopardising flood protection for the site and nearby homes.
The protective levee built in the 1970s along the Barwon River Estuary shields the Riverview Family Caravan Park in Ocean Grove and adjacent residences, but small potholes left unrepaired can grow and compromise the barrier. Gareth Smith, chief executive of the Barwon Coast Committee of Management, highlighted that the levee’s height varies by about half a metre and that low points are already partially breached, with projections of complete inundation by 2100 if sea levels continue to rise.
The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action has received $250,000 from the federal government to fund a flood study and long-term adaptation plan, with a consultant to be engaged soon. Earlier state funding in 2024 supported repairs to the revetment wall, and the department is also exploring mangrove restoration to reduce erosion, though it will not stop rising seas. Similar coastal-flood challenges are being faced by nearby communities, prompting broader flood-mapping efforts by the City of Greater Geelong and calls for state assistance across the region.
