The community in Echuca has come together to protect a woman's home after 300 sandbags surrounding her property were stolen.
Sheena Lewis had already evacuated the town in Victoria's north, which is expected to be hit by a wave of flooding from the Murray River on Wednesday, when the bags were stolen on Monday night.
But after a call for help was posted on Facebook, dozens of strangers came to their neighbour's aid.
The 64-year-old said she was "so grateful" for the help.
"I feel so helpless being so far away and have no control over what's happening there," she said.
"I lived through the '93 flood and couldn't believe the community help then, but these people are going above and beyond that."
Residents were working to urgently build a 2.5 kilometre flood levee to protect most of the town, but it was being built on the wrong side of Ms Lewis's house.
Around 1,200 homes were affected when the Campaspe River peaked on Sunday.
Authorities are now warning Echuca residents they may become isolated for days if they do not evacuate immediately.
'People are giving what they can'
Local florist Veronica was one of the residents helping to sandbag the house.
"We live in a community and communities have to stick together," she said.
"All these businesses and homes are just struggling post-COVID."
She said she was keeping an eye out for social media posts asking for help, as she had already sandbagged her business and her house looked to be safe.
"That's why we're out and about — you've just got to save everyone else," she said.
"People are giving what they can. An hour's better than nothing and 12 hours is phenomenal."
Ms Lewis's son, Jeff Lewis, said he was "gutted" the sandbags were stolen.
He had spent the night at his mother's home removing its contents, while friends sandbagged the property.
But he said it was great to see the community coming together to help out.
"I've got my brother's mates here, we've got just random people," he said.
"Hopefully anyone on the south side of the wall can help us northerners.
"If you've got some spare [sandbags] just bring them across."
CFA urges residents not to hoard sandbags
Mark Hooper from the local Country Fire Authority urged people not to build sandbags higher than the levee, which is 96m above sea level.
"We don't want people beating each other up to put sandbags on properties that don't need them," he said.
He said there was a technique to sandbagging, involving slamming them into the ground, with more information on the SES website.
The Campaspe River flooding was a "one-in-1000-year flood", Mr Hooper said.
"We normally talk about one in 25, one in 50, it's just had a one in 1000," he said.
Mr Hooper said water from the Murray River would feed the Campaspe River, which would rise to 95.2 metres above sea level, and the Murray would get to 95.6m.
"We are building our levee banks at 96 metres above sea level," he said.
