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Man found dead in Victorian floods

Echuca residents build 2.5-kilometre flood wall

A 65-year-old man has been found dead in floodwaters in northern Victoria, as communities remain on high alert for the swollen Murray River system to inundate homes.

The man was last known to be on a tractor on a property off Blacksmiths Road at Nathalia on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Emergency services started a search when he failed to return home about 10pm and found the unoccupied tractor in floodwaters.

A family member found the man’s body in floodwaters on Paynes Road about 8.45am on Wednesday, police say.

The exact circumstances surrounding the death are yet to be determined but at this stage it is not being treated as suspicious.

It comes after a 71-year-old man was found dead in the backyard of his Rochester home on Saturday.

Evacuation warnings are in place for Echuca and the smaller towns of Barmah and Lower Moira, with the Murray likely to start peaking on Wednesday.

There are concerns river levels could exceed the 94.77 metres recorded during the 1993 floods.

Echuca residents have spent the past few days building a makeshift, 2.5-kilometre flood levee from sandbags to protect thousands of homes and businesses.

However, the wall has divided the town in two, leaving properties and people on the wrong side susceptible to being inundated.

Flood warnings are also in place for towns along the Loddon, Campaspe and Goulburn rivers.

Overnight on Tuesday, major flooding happened at Appin South on the Loddon River and at Rochester on the Campaspe River with residents being told to move to higher ground.

Major flooding at Kerang from the Loddon River is expected overnight on Wednesday, with the water forecast to peak around the January 2011 level.

A sandbag levee is expected to keep the majority of the town dry, but it could be cut off for up to seven days.

“For some communities, this is a record flood event,” Premier Daniel Andrews said on Wednesday.

With the floods hitting prime agricultural areas and many small businesses, the state government has announced a $73.5 million relief package to help farmers and business owners clean up.

Included in it is $19.5 million for $10,000 individual payments to primary producers to help with the removal and disposal of debris and injured or dead livestock, repairing equipment, fixing fencing, buying fodder and water.

Primary producers can claim up to 50 per cent of transport costs, up to the value of $15,000, to transport emergency fodder and drinking water, and moving stock for agistment, sale or slaughter.

Concessional loans of up to $250,000 will also be made available.

The Bureau of Meteorology has warned more rain and thunderstorms are on the way and up to 400 Australian Defence Force personnel are being deployed across the state to help with sandbagging, rescues and deliveries of supplies to flooded communities.

There could be between five and 15 millimetres of rain for much of the state on Friday, while the northeast could record up to 50mm.

Residents are being advised to heed the flood warnings and evacuate or move to higher ground if necessary.

They should also stockpile medication and other emergency supplies in case they are cut off and avoid driving through floodwaters.

Heavy rain forecast for NSW

NSW floods to last months

North of the Murray, there is no end in sight for the rain and floods hitting NSW, with saturated catchments copping a further soaking, as authorities warn flooding will continue for months.

After a brief reprieve from the rain at the weekend, widespread rain returned on Wednesday.

“This is not good news for our already flood-affected areas,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s Dean Narramore said.

Rain and thunderstorms are expected over parts of NSW and Victoria, where there is already major flooding.

“As we move into Wednesday, we’ll see that system move further eastwards, bringing widespread rain and storms,” he said on Tuesday.

Thursday threatens “quite severe” thunderstorms through eastern Queensland and NSW, set to continue on Friday.

A low-pressure system will weaken but be followed by more rain at the weekend.

The downpours could cause renewed flooding along rivers in parts of the NSW north-west, central-west and south-west inland catchments, which are already inundated from months of persistent rain.

Residents in East Moama, near the Victorian border, have been told to evacuate by 1pm on Wednesday as the Murray River continues to rise.

Already 300 people in and near Moama have already been told to evacuate this week, and thousands are on stand-by. Floods in the area are predicted to eclipse its second worst on record in 1993.

The SES has distributed tens of thousands of sandbags and set up evacuation centres.

Deputy State Emergency Services Commissioner Ken Murphy said weary volunteers had been dealing with floods since February and everyone needed to prepare for a long, wet summer.

“What we need to be mindful of is this is a very, very long event and broadly across all of NSW, these floods will continue for a number of months,” he told ABC TV on Wednesday.

NSW Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said the wet conditions have tested the resolve of flood-weary communities.

“This is what living through a third consecutive La Nina event looks like,” she said.

“Our grounds are saturated and we are continuing to see rain and more rain”.

Major flood warnings remain for eight NSW rivers, including the Murrumbidgee and Murray.

Closer to the coast in the Hunter region, the weather bureau warns of a renewed flood threat on some rivers as rain continues. Wollombi Brook is likely to flood later in the week.

The bureau is also keeping a close eye on the Lower Hunter River and Colo River north-west of Sydney.

-AAP

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