A farmer in the Loddon region believes the current flood situation will set in for many weeks, and efforts to keep properties protected will need to be long-term.
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Jude Hannah, Fernihurst, runs sheep and plants chilli crops in her operation, but the recent floods through her region have significantly shaken up her farming operation.
She says while she "only got the brunt of the rain on Saturday [October 15]," there were concerns about flows coming from Wedderburn, east of her property, at an "incredibly slow moving" pace.
"Once that starts to come across the plains and slowly creeps through all the long grass and crops, it starts to meet up with all of the waterways, whether that's the Kinypanial Creek or the Loddon River," she said.
"That's when it becomes troublesome for us, [when] we see those two waterways joining.
"We will end up getting a raging river flowing at the south of our paddock, which will eventually makes its way towards Boort for well over a week at this rate."
Ms Hannah runs sheep on her property and, since the beginning of the flooding event in Victoria, has been able to keep stock safe by feeding them water, hay and oats in the shearing shed for a few days.
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"We are now just getting the sheep to higher ground, and we also have a horse and as all the water was creeping in the horse was being extremely intuitive and finding her own way to the higher ground," she said.
"What we would normally have assumed was high ground is a totally different ballgame this year, because it's a totally different flood flow compared to the 2011 floods."
Ms Hannah said she has been lucky regarding her chilli planting and will hold off on working on that part of her operation for the time being, and raised beds for her produce meant that water has been mainly kept out for now.
"We've got 180 strawberry plants in currently and we we've actually just been down to our wholesaler to get the seedlings before the flood came," she said.
"We were lucky enough we didn't put those seedlings in, otherwise, it could have been a different matter.
"I suppose it's going to tell within the next couple of weeks, if the root systems of the strawberry plants are affected, but we'll hold off planting the chilies which will put us back a bit until we're confident that we're not going to get flooded out again,"
While there was a lot more time to prepare, Ms Hannah said there are tiresome elements of the flooding event dragging on, being "so excruciatingly slow it nearly does your head in," she said.
"Everybody I've been speaking to in the farming community saying this tests our intestinal fortitude because we know what's coming.
"We were also up very early on Sunday morning at four o'clock in the morning fixing levees because a couple of them had given way, and we were concerned that it was going to flood the house.
"A neighbour down the road had water come right up to their door and ended up flooding their cellar but didn't come in.
She said she is concerned over how much stress levels have been raised, that farmers' mental health will be affected severely over the next few weeks, and that many are on "a razor's edge" watching rainfall totals throughout the week.
"I actually feel like I'm in COVID lockdown again... you don't know what's coming," she said.
"Many are dialled into checking Facebook messages, local newspaper reports and we're constantly being fed information."
Ms Hannah is also the program director of the London Murray Community Leadership Program, which supports established community leaders and actively develops emerging community leaders.
She advocates communities should look to nominate someone "who is the conduit and the go-to person" for smaller, isolated farming communities during times of major disaster.
"I know a lot of our shires are inundated with calls, and there's pressure to be out checking roads and, and the welfare of everybody," she said.
"We do see services rally around for regional centres like Bridgewater and in Echuca, but for smaller farming communities that are very isolated, it's hard for us to just leave with roads cut off... and we just can't get out."
"Having a nominated leader representative for when there is [a major weather event], that can be that go-to person for very small communities so we aren't all scurrying around... is something that I think our local shires really should be investing in for smaller communities."
