Flood levels continue to rise in the Horsham area with the river expected to peak in the next few hours .

We have been told it is forecast around 100 homes will be flooded. We have been in contact through the day with the Horsham Incident Control Centre and the latest flood level forecast maps still show our exchange should be OK. Our local staff are working closely with the SES and watching it all this evening.

Our technicians have made good progress repairing the Bridgewater exchange and this evening had restored 240 services and expect to restore all by tomorrow morning.

Preparations have begun in the Kerang area for the flood peak that is expected there later this week. Preparations are also underway for areas to the north and west of Horsham .

The widespread heavy rainfall across all of Victoria has seen our fault levels rise to a little over 8000 faults which is about three times our normal level of faults on hand. Of these faults about 4000 are in the Melbourne metropolitan area.

Of the ones in Victorian regional areas many of the homes are not accessible at this time. We have favourable weather forecasts for at least the next seven days . Many of our CTs are working additional hours each day and at the weekend and our contractors are taking on additional volumes and this will all help in the recovery.

Despite already providing significant resources to Queensland our Central and Western Regions are helping us with some additional resources from Sydney and Perth. We are revising our forecast of our recovery timeframes based on all of these factors and I will update tomorrow.
Tasmania also received very high levels of rainfall late last week which resulted in flooding particularly across the northern and eastern areas of the state. The team in Tasmania has responded exceptionally well to this with all the core network now up and running .

Whilst fault levels are higher than normal the team has a good recovery plan.

The flooding on the east coast of Tasmania caused a wash away of a section one of two optical fibre cables connecting Tasmanian services to the mainland. Restoration required laying out a 5km length of cable and the Tassie team had the cable laid and services restored by Saturday evening.

Assistance for customers:

A disaster assistance package for Telstra residential and small business customers has been announced for customers in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. The package provides practical assistance with phone services including free call diversions, and holding of customer phone numbers and email addresses. For more information:

Queensland: Media Release

Update to Telstra assistance package for Queensland customers affected by floodwaters and storms

New South Wales: Media Release

Telstra assistance package for New South Wales customers affected by floodwaters and storms

Victoria: Media release

Telstra assistance package for Victorian Shire customers affected by floodwaters and storms

Related Links

• Flood update no 6 from Telstra
• Telstra technology tips for flood affected areas
• Telstra assistance package for NSW customers affected by flood waters and storms
• Update to Telstra assistance package for Queensland customers affected by floodwaters and storms
• Telstra will contribute up to one million dollars to the Queensland Premier’s Flood Relief Appeal
• Dial before you dig