Victoria has faced its wettest January days on record as the flood threat across the state continues to flow to more regional towns.
Flood-inducing rainfalls across the state have smashed records for the month going back about 120 years, the Bureau of Meteorology’s Bri Macpherson said.
“If we had no further rainfall for the rest of January, this month would still be within the top 20 wettest that we have on record,” she said.
The state is poised to remain mostly dry on Wednesday and Thursday with the flood threat now moving towards Murchison and Shepparton, and later to Echuca in central Victoria.
With six flood rescues on Tuesday, the total since the emergency began on Sunday stands at 52.
About half of those were triggered by people driving on flooded roads and becoming stuck in their cars.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined Victoria’s acting premier Ben Carroll on Wednesday to announce further support for the state’s flood victims.
The money would go towards emergency and hardship payments along with local councils, Albanese said.
“This is a really difficult time,” he said.
“It will be traumatic for people in places like Rochester, who just a couple of years ago went through another severe weather event.
“So, we stand with Victorians.”
A watch and act alert is in place along the Goulburn River from Seymour to Shepparton and for the Bendigo and Bullock Creeks.
Victoria SES chief officer Tim Wiebusch on Wednesday warned communities along the Goulburn River to expect possible road closures and overland flooding.
The river at Murchison reached a moderate-level peak of 10.5m on Wednesday afternoon.
Water flows are expected to continue onto the Kialla, Shepparton and Mooroopna areas, bringing moderate flooding peaking at about 10.7m by Friday.
“For those communities, now is the time to act … and do not attempt to drive through floodwaters,” Wiebusch said.
Crews have door knocked about 300 homes from Kialla to Shepparton with fewer than a dozen properties expected to be inundated, Wiebusch said.
“But there will be extensive flooding in some of the streets, so please be alert to that.”
Floodwaters are flowing downstream towards the town of Echuca with minor flooding peaks expected on Wednesday.
“We are seeing local road closures and some inundation around some low-lying areas, but we are not expecting to see levels anywhere near what we saw in 2022 where it impacted broadly on that community,” Wiebusch said.
(7 NEWS)
