Flood emergency in Victoria not over

The rain has eased but the emergency is not over, with many Victorian towns set to
be flooded in the next few days.
Northeast Victoria will face flooding on Sunday when water from the Broken River
flows into Benalla while water from Fifteen Mile Creek and the Ovens River will
swell into Wangaratta.
Victoria faced its worst floods in more than a decade on the weekend, with 200mm of
rain falling in some areas.
Areas all around the state remain threatened by floods, including towns near the
Mitchell River, Macalister River and Lake Glenmaggie in the Gippsland region in
Victoria's east.
The Wimmera region, in the west, is experiencing the worst flooding in two decades,
with the Avoca River and Wimmera River bursting, while water from the Goulburn River
will affect properties around north central areas including Seymour, Nagambie
Murchison and Shepparton.
"Our state is very wet, we are seeing flood levels that we haven't seen for many
years," State Emergency Service (SES) state controller Tim Wiebusch told reporters
on Sunday.
"Gippsland, it's probably been five years since we've seen some decent flooding
there, 15 years up in the northeast of the state and many more years up in the
Wimmera (in the north-west of the state) in particular."
So far 250 homes have been inundated by floods but that number is certain to rise on
Sunday and Monday, according to Victorian Premier John Brumby.
Victoria's northeast was the hardest hit on Saturday, when the towns of Euroa,
Benalla and Myrtleford were issued with emergency evacuation alerts.
Flash flooding also hit areas west of Melbourne including Creswick and Clunes.
An extra 150 police have been sent to flood-hit areas, defence force personnel will
be deployed and Victoria's new emergency alert phone messaging system has been used
seven times so far with flood warnings and advice sent to 51,000 Victorians.
"We've been in touch with the federal government so there will be some defence
deployment tomorrow ... 50 defence personnel in the north of the state assisting
with things like relief, evacuations or relocations and sandbagging and holding back
the water," Mr Brumby told reporters on Sunday.
More rain is forecast later in the week, which is not as heavy with up to 30mm
expected but could cause extra flooding because of the weekend's events making the
ground wet.
Mr Wiebusch urged people in affected areas to be on alert, listen out to emergency
broadcasters and monitor www.ses.vic.gov.au and 1300 842 737 (VIC SES).