A slow-moving landslide and road closure in Victoria's alpine region will cut access to the ski village of Falls Creek as Victorians prepare for the biggest downpour of the year.
About 150 residents, visitors and staff at Falls Creek are being told they must leave the area by midday Wednesday or risk being stranded and unable to leave.
The landslide happened on the Bogong High Plains Road near Spring Saddle Track above Bogong Village.
The road will be closed between Bogong and Falls Creek to all traffic except emergency vehicles from midday Wednesday.
The Victorian Department of Transport said cracking had been identified and debris was crumbling onto the road.
"Only emergency services and essential services will be able to get through and if this landslip develops into something more serious there could be access issues for emergency services as well," Department of Transport Hume director Steve Bowmaker said.
"Teams are clearing it away as quickly as they possibly can, but with the forecast rain things become quite unpredictable and at that point our teams will need to leave the site for safety reasons and we need to close the road to ensure that all road users are safe."
Preparing to bunker down
Resident Peter Murray told ABC Statewide Drive some residents were leaving now, while others were rushing to the local supermarket to get supplies, to prepare to bunker down for the weekend.
"There were trees coming down from the top, the road is starting to crumble down and slide a little bit and it was slowly active and hasn't stopped," he said.
"It was starting to fall piece by piece so it is good to see them being proactive rather than reactive."
One lane of the road is currently closed and the speed limit has been reduced to 40 kilometres per hour.
Road collapsing
Diane Alpine Lodge manager Lisa Logan said Falls Creek was accessible by one road only at this time of year, so authorities had no other option but to cut access.
"We've got the wall above the road collapsing on top of the road so it is bringing down some soil and trees on top of that as well," she said.
"There's still snow on the High Plains road beyond Falls Creek towards Omeo so we don't expect to be able to access the village at all over the next few days."
Ms Logan said she was collecting her belongings and leaving Falls Creek.
"At least we've got the option to get out now while it's still safe, but come Wednesday with this rain forecast we could very well be trapped again so it has been encouraged for all of us to get off the mountain or be prepared to be stuck for a few days," Ms Logan said.
The Department of Transport said the re-opening of the road would depend on weather conditions and ongoing management of the landslip risk.
Emergency services are warning major flooding is possible across the state with between 50 - 100 millimetres forecast across the northern ranges, where catchments are already full and flood warnings are in place across 11 rivers.
Watch and Act warnings are already in place for parts of the Murray, Avoca and Loddon rivers.
