A car caught in the floodwaters on the Goulburn valley Highway in Seymour.Credit:Jason South
“We’ve got a lot of milk at that site we’re really concerned about,” said Bega nutritionals and ingredients executive general manager Hamish Reid.
“If we don’t process that in the next 48 hours somewhere else,it’s likely it will no longer be suitable for its intended purpose.”
Bega is scrambling to move milk to different sites after flooding cut off power to its Tatura facility.
Some power has returned to the Tatura site,which employs around 350 people,but only in a limited capacity,he said.
The dairy processor is in the process of moving as much of the 2 million litres of milk to its Koroit facility in south-west Victoria,which is about five hours away from Tatura.
If power is fully restored by Tuesday evening,Bega will process some of the milk on site. However,it still needs to move the bulk of milk to Koroit.
Many Bega employees in the area have had their homes and properties damaged by the flooding,Reid added. Farmers who supply milk to Bega are also experiencing power outages that prevent them from accessing their farms or collecting milk.