And that’s where we’ll leave you this Sunday evening. Here’s what we learned:
• Major flooding continued across Victoria despite the sunny weather, with some rivers still rising and yet to peak on Sunday evening.
• The prime minister Anthony Albanese visited flood-affected areas of Victoria with state premier Daniel Andrews today, promising 100 Australian Defence Force personnel on the ground to help out. Just over 9,000 Victorians have applied for one-off emergency assistance payments so far and there are 13 relief centres open around the state.
• There were 355 roads closed and 6,000 properties without power, mostly west of Mooroopna, due to flood waters breaching a levee on a local substation. Those outages could continue for up to a week, depending on the flood activity.
• An evacuation warning is currently in place for Shepparton, Mooroopna and Orrvale but the SES is advising it’s now too late to leave. Flooding is expected to peak overnight at 12.2 metres in the area – higher than the 1974 peak.
• There were also flood warnings issued for the Esk River in Tasmania and evacuation warnings for those staying in Moama caravan and tourist parks and Narrandera in New South Wales.
• In non-flood news, federal and state Liberal politicians have accused the Albanese government of “playing favourites” with infrastructure spending, complaining about the allocation of funding between states and the unpicking of controversial announcements by the former Morrison government.
• One in five swimming spots in New South Wales have been rated as having “poor” or “very poor” pollution levels, including Sydney’s popular Coogee beach, after the state experienced its wettest summer in a decade.
• And former prime minister Julia Gillard will lead a South Australian royal commission into early childhood education and care to improve the school system she credits with her ascent to the top job.
Thanks for sticking with us. We’ll be back with more tomorrow morning. Look after yourselves.
Updated
Floods force school closures in Victoria
About 120 schools and 100 early learning centres in Victoria will be closed tomorrow thanks to the flood disaster, premier Daniel Andrews has said. He’s shared some info on Twitter this afternoon:
There'll be lots of families thinking about school for the week ahead.
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) October 16, 2022
Around 120 schools and 100 early learning centres will be closed tomorrow - those schools will be making contact with families directly.
Where it's possible the Department is making plans to have students attend a nearby school.
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) October 16, 2022
I know it'll be particularly stressful for Year 12s heading into exams. We're going to try to make it as smooth as possible for you.
Updated
