As it happened Victoria floods: Too late to leave Barmah, Kerang; Murray River expected to peak at Echuca on Sunday

Before we bring our live flood coverage to an end, here are a few updates to the warnings around the state:

There are 53 warning across the state and 19 incidents reported across Victoria, on the VicEmergency app as of 9.30pm.

For those in Barmah and Lower Moira it is now too late to leave, and those who have not evacuated should take shelter in the highest location possible.

A too late to leave warning is also in force for Kerang – which could be isolated for more than a week.

Here’s a few details you may have missed from today:

• Premier Daniel Andrews visited Rochester and said the flooding had made things “very, very tough” for the community
• The Murray River is now expected to peak on Sunday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology
• Two hundred additional hospital staff, 20 new pharmacists and free Japanese encephalitis virus vaccines in flood-hit areas are some of the measures in a public health package announced by the Victorian government

Please stay safe and keep up to date with the latest warnings on www.emergency.vic.gov.au

Thanks for reading our live flood coverage, we will be back updating you on all the developments tomorrow morning.

In case you missed it, the Victorian government will dedicate $6.5 million to health initiatives including free vaccines for a serious mosquito-born disease in flooded areas.

A monitoring and control system to help prevent mosquitoes being drawn to flooded areas was announced earlier today.

“These are communities that, particularly along the Murray, are very familiar with the risks of mosquitoes, but that will be increased particularly in relation to the disease of Japanese encephalitis,” Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes said.

She said funding would also go to Indigenous health organisations in the area, particularly around Swan Hill and Kerang.

Japanese Encephalitis is a rare tropical virus and waterbirds are its natural host.

While it mostly infects pigs and horses – but it can spread to people too.

It is now too late to leave for residents of Barmah and Lower Moira, with the VicEmergency app upgrading the warning this evening.

The flood is expected to continue impacting the Barmah and Lower Moira area, which means there is no longer enough time to safely leave your property, VicEmergency said in its warning.

“If you have not evacuated, you should shelter in the highest location possible,” the warning reads.

It also advises people they may be isolated for a lengthy period.

Victoria’s environment watchdog will test water and soil in flood-hit communities across the state to help with clean-up efforts.

The Environmental Protection Authority’s chief environmental scientist, Professor Mark Taylor, said the watchdog had already started testing floodwaters in Melbourne’s inner west.

“By testing the flood water and soil we get a better understanding of any potential contamination issues, especially in those areas the hardest hit by the floods,” Taylor said today.

Damage to a playground on Chifley Drive on Saturday after the Maribyrnong River flooded.Credit: Scott McNaughton

Extra water quality monitors were placed in the Maribyrnong River and results would feed into a new website to monitor the river on the EPA website, he said.

“Our Maribyrnong River E. coli results from yesterday have come back low, however we know that floodwaters carry a range of risks, including bacteria, so we recommend continuing to avoid contact with waters,” Taylor said.

EPA officers have already started going door to door to collect soil samples in Maribyrnong and individual results will be given directly to property owners.

Overall results would be passed on to councils to help inform clean-up efforts, Taylor said.

The samples will be analysed for E. coli, trace elements such as metals, and organic chemicals such as PFAS and petroleum hydrocarbons.

“We understand this is a difficult time for many Victorians and we will continue to provide information that can be used to reduce the risks they face,” Taylor said.

The testing would be rolled out across to other flood-hit parts of the state, he said.

Hundreds of tonnes of hard waste has been collected from flood-hit Maribyrnong streets.

In total, up to 350 tonnes or 1000 cubic metres of hard waste has been collected from more nature strips piled outside 200 properties, according to Maribyrnong Council.

The council has used trucks and bobcats since Monday to work through streets affected by the floods.

There will be multiple visits to collect hard waste throughout the week on a rolling basis because of the amount of ruined items.

Sports fields and spaces from Footscray Wharf to Pipemakers Park, that were inundated, will now be cleared by the council.

Facilities remain closed to the public, including the Footscray Boating Club and Maribyrnong Reserve, as well as infrastructure such as playgrounds and barbecues.

Flood impacted residents can also email [e-mail] with specific requests or concerns between 9am to 5pm on weekdays.

The Bureau of Meteorology has some somewhat reassuring news for Echuca residents, who have been on a tense flood watch for more than a week.

In its latest flood advice, issued today, the bureau says the predicted flooding at the border town is likely to be less severe than the alarming predictions made by an Emergency Management Victoria spokesman at a community meeting on Monday.

Readers will recall that on Monday, a community forum was told to prepare for flooding as high as 95.9 metres above sea level. That prediction was yesterday revised down to 95.6 metres, and today the bureau advised flood levels were likely to reach about 94.8 metres – a metre less than Monday’s prediction.

Even if the river reaches 94.8 metres, however, it will be a major flood event at levels similar to October 1993. The bureau says with between 40 and 60 millimetres of rain forecast, the river level could reach 95 metres on Tuesday.

At 4pm today, the Murray River was sitting at 94.48 metres above sea level – more than 1.5 metres above its level last week.

Victoria’s premier says things are “very, very tough” for members of the Rochester community, after he spent time in the flood-ravaged town.

Authorities continue to tell people who evacuated the northern Victorian town that it is not safe to return.

“I wouldn’t say that things are good. Things are very, very tough,” Premier Daniel Andrews told ABC Melbourne 774 this afternoon.

Andrews said more rain was still expected, but the weather bureau had moderated its forecast, and it might not be at the same level as last weekend.

“That will mean areas that are now dry will almost certainly have water back in them again,” he told host Raf Epstein.

Premier Daniel Andrews and the Emergency Management Commissioner, Andrew Crisp, visit the relief centre in Rochester today. Credit: Eddie Jim

“That’s why ADF personnel, SES, all of our emergency services are working as fast as they can to try and do as much clean-up as we can ... while we’ve got this better weather because there is rain coming and there’s going to be inundation and flooding again.”

Andrews also said Rochester and other areas faced a long road back to normality.

“That’s not days and weeks, that’s going to be months and maybe longer. We’ll be there all the way through rebuilding, repairing, supporting those families, and, indeed, businesses,” he said.

A family affected by the Maribyrnong River floods say they have been targeted by fraudsters after they were unable to apply for a one-off flood relief payment, and the state government confirmed it has noticed a few fraudulent applications.

Stan Gradski and his 93-year-old mother, Janina, live about 100 metres from the river’s edge on Oakland Street in the north-west Melbourne neighbourhood. When the river swelled on Friday, he said floodwater reached chin-height in their home of 48 years, destroying countless belongings.

Stan Gradski, with mother Janina, found their address had already been used to apply for flood relief payments.Credit: Justin McManus

He said his daughter tried to apply numerous times for the Victorian government’s one-off $580 relief payment on his and his mother’s behalf, but the system kept rejecting the application.

Gradski said he then went to the Maribyrnong relief centre on Wednesday and, after clearing up initial suspicions that he might be a fraudster himself, he was told by staff on site that there had already been six different payment applications for his address.

Read more about how fraudsters are targeting flood-damaged homes.

Volunteers are banding together to help out with sandbagging in Echuca, as the state’s emergency management commissioner said the town was in a “watch and see” situation.

The possibility of flash flooding remains in Echuca, with rain predicted to arrive from tomorrow and into the weekend when the Murray River is due to peak.

Earlier today, Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp told Channel Seven’s Sunrise program the next 24 to 48 hours would be tense for the town.

“I was up there yesterday and looked at the incredible work that has been done there: the levee wall; the way the community and emergency services have come together. And they have done absolutely everything possible, so it is now just a watch and wait situation to see what happens in Echuca itself,” Crisp said.

The 2.5 kilometre levee runs through the town, separating parts of the city’s east from the rest of the regional centre.

And in an update to an earlier post, two men have been charged following an alleged burglary at a Maribyrnong property.

Some Maribyrnong residents reported their muddied, flood-hit homes had been looted earlier this week while the rising river forced them to leave.

Police allege a man entered an unoccupied home in Burton Crescent and stole several personal items before getting into a waiting blue Ford Territory around 7am on Monday.

Household items ruined by the floods in Maribyrnong.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

Two other males stayed in the vehicle during the incident, police said.

A 26-year-old Sunshine West man has been charged with 12 offences including burglary, obtain property by deception and handle stolen goods.

A 33-year-old man is due to be charged on summons with deception offences.

Both will appear in court at a later date and police are still seeking a third man, who they believe may be able to assist them.