After being hit hard when the Loddon River breached its banks 2011 and again in 2022, Kerang is no stranger to floods — but at the start of this year, a rain event in the town itself inundated several properties, including the local cemetery.
As a result, the Kerang Cemetery Trust made the decision to stop holding funerals until the ground was suitable to dig again.
"We were super saturated — we really were," trust vice chairman Dale Trevorrow said.
"Under our lawn section, we had a water table 1.2 metres below the surface and when we're trying to dig someone's grave at 2.4m, we have issues with [the] water table, wet clay, sloppy ground … cave-ins, [and] collapses within the grave.
"You can't dig a hole in water."
The cemetery even had one grave collapse as staff were trying to dig it.
"We had an issue where we had dug the grave and we did have a partial cave-in on one side of the grave," he said.
"We do have grave shoring that we can use there to try to stabilise the sides of the grave, but it then leaves a rather large excavation adjacent to the grave.
"You can't walk around the grave if there's a great hole beside the hole that you've dug for the grave."
Unprecedented water at the cemetery
Although Kerang has been flooded before, the town has never closed its cemetery to burials due to sodden ground before.
Mr Trevorrow said the rain that fell between Christmas and the first week of January had a big impact on Kerang, partly due to issues with council storm drains overflowing.
"We've never had that much water on the cemetery before, even in times of peak floods and in 2011 when the town was completely surrounded," he said.
A power outage also meant pumps that would normally be used to siphon water off the cemetery grounds could not operate.
In a statement, Gannawarra Shire said it was "working to alleviate residents' concerns" over the flash flooding event and that stormwater was a
"significant issue" for the council, which it had devoted funding and resources to for a number of years.
Funerals now resumed
The Kerang Cemetery Trust began holding funerals again two weeks ago, with a rule of no more than one a day, and not before 11:30am in order to provide time to check the grave is suitable.
There was one funeral booked on January 15 that could not go ahead due to unsuitable ground.
Mr Trevorrow said the trust aimed to preserve the dignity of the deceased and keep the public safe from unstable ground.
"We haven't closed the cemetery for any other reason than … [to protect] people's wellbeing," Mr Trevorrow said.
"I don't think anyone wants to bury their loved one in a grave with two feet of water in the bottom of it."
Cohuna Cemetery said it also held off conducting burials in early January because of the weather.