A man has been found dead in floodwaters at a home in Rochester in Victoria's north, as authorities prepare for one of the largest evacuation operations in the state's history.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
The 71-year-old was found in the backyard of his High St home about 9.30am on Saturday.
Victoria Police and SES crews are near the scene but unable to reach the property as it is cut off by floodwater.
As of noon on Saturday residents in several Victorian towns had been told to evacuate, and more areas are expected to receive similar orders.
Evacuation orders were issued for Charlton Township at the foothills of the Great Dividing Range and Orrvale, Kialla West and Mooroopna near Shepparton in central Victoria.
Residents in Shepparton have been told to prepare to leave as the area is expected to experience its worst flooding in almost three decades from Sunday.
READ ALSO:
Significant parts of Echuca will be asked to evacuate from late Saturday and people could be away from their homes for many days as a second peak is expected mid-to-late next week.
It is now too late to leave the towns of Murchison and Murchison East.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner David Clayton said officers remain in evacuated areas to prevent looting.
"We anticipate that in coming days we're going to see some of the largest evacuations that we have ever seen," Assistant Commissioner Clayton told reporters.
By Saturday morning more than 460 homes had been damaged by floodwater rising above floor level and around 500 properties remained isolated.
The SES had performed about 350 rescues over the flood emergency.
Of those rescues, 160 happened at properties in Rochester when residents who chose to remain in their homes had to be saved, while 150 involved people being rescued from stranded vehicles.
As of 10am on Saturday there were major flood warnings for parts of the Avoca River, Goulburn River, King River, Mt Emu Creek, Loddon Weir, Ovens River, Broken River and Seven Creeks.
Fourteen relief centres and 55 sandbag collection sites have been established across the state.
The extent of the damage to hundreds of homes in inner Melbourne is just starting to become clear after the Maribyrnong River breached its banks on Friday.
Member for Maribyrnong Bill Shorten said many houses and a lot of community infrastructure had been damaged.
"I think that people here knew the theory of flood damage, but because it hasn't happened in a couple of generations of this significance I think it's a shock," Mr Shorten told ABC News.
People displaced by the floods are eligible for one-off payments of $560 per adult and $280 per child.
Some 3000 Victorians had applied for the payments by 11am on Saturday.
The federal and state governments have agreed to use the recently retired $580 million Mickleham quarantine facility as emergency accommodation.
The facility will reopen early next week for 250 people with crisis accommodation available for six to eight weeks and could eventually provide shelter for up to 500.
Premier Daniel Andrews said defence personnel were assisting with the emergency across regional Victoria and up to 60 additional ADF experts will help with the clean-up in coming days.
Some contractors working on major infrastructure projects have paused construction to carry out repair work in flood-affected areas.
Mostly dry conditions were forecast until Tuesday across Victoria however flooding is expected to return late in the week.
Australian Associated Press
