Record rainfall which fell across Victoria in October is continuing to pose a flood risk, with dams at capacity and authorities warning residents in the north of the state to remain on high alert.
The devastating floods, which began in mid-October, are still threatening communities along the Murray River and its tributaries.
"Our flood emergency is still far from over," State Emergency Service (SES) chief operations officer Tim Wiebusch said.
Widespread flooding across inland New South Wales has seen dozens of evacuation warnings issued north of the border and floodwater flowing into the Murray River.
"And so we're asking all the Murray River communities in particular to now be flood-ready," Mr Wiebusch said.
October was the busiest month on record for the SES, with more than 13,000 calls for help.
The Murray River peaked at Echuca, in the state's north, at 94.98 metres above sea level last Wednesday, October 26. It has only receded slightly, sitting at 94.78m above sea level.
Authorities expect it will remain above the major flood level of 94.4m through to next week, more than a month after the devastating rains first began to lash the state.
A temporary 2.5-kilometre-long levee which was built to contain the floods has continued to hold, but homes on the so-called "wrong side" are still impacted.
An evacuation warning remains in place for Echuca and Echuca Village as well as the small communities of Barmah and Lower Moira further east along the river.
The slow-moving disaster in the north of the state is fed by the huge and complex river system of the Murray-Darling Basin.
Hume Dam increases water releases, risking isolation around Albury
At the Hume Dam, east of Albury-Wodonga, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority increased releases from 50 gigalitres a day to 75 gigalitres a day in response to further downpours.
Andrew Reynolds, executive director of river management at the authority, said it was needed to manage the rapid rises in inflows.
"We had a peak inflow of 100 gigalitres a day coming into the storage and we were seeing the storage rise quite quickly," he said.
"We needed to take action to slow that and make sure we had some air space to continue to mitigate flooding further downstream."
Mr Reynolds said the releases would push the flow on Albury above moderate flood levels, but he was hopeful it would not exceed major levels.
The impacts are already being felt by the community, particularly those on flood plains.
"All of the water coming out of the dam has obviously got to come down the stream somewhere and there's a fair few low-lying areas around Albury that can't handle that much water," Albury SES Commander Curtis Kishere said.
Albury SES and other emergency services were door-knocking properties at Doctors Point, in the East Albury area, advising them of the flood risk and ensuring residents were prepared for possible isolation.
"There's a lot of water coming out of the dam and [those residents] could become isolated," Mr Kishere said.
"[People should] move cars to higher ground, get any medical supplies they may need, any food, we're saying get food for five days, non-perishable food," he said.
The council was assessing Doctors Point Road, which is one of the only access roads but is closed due to flooding.
Cattle farmer Marie Dunn farms at Howlong, about 30 kilometres downstream of Albury, she said things are already looking pretty "grim" on her property with more water to come from the Hume releases.
"There's lots of water and nearly all of our river flats, about 90 per cent, seem to be underwater right now," she said.
Ms Dunn said she worried about moving her cow and calves because of the impact of the floodwater on the roads and just hoped the river peak "doesn't last very long".
She said she understood why the releases were happening, but said the timing was bad and would mean a challenging summer.
"Good pastures will be going underwater, which isn't too flash," she said.
Floods to continue into December
Hundreds of kilometres west along the Murray, authorities expect floodwater to reach Swan Hill about Monday and continue to rise into the week.
Communities such as Boundary Bend and Mildura are expected to experience minor flooding once floodwater from NSW flows into the Murray.
"It'll take until the first week of December before we'll actually see potentially major flooding in and around Mildura," Mr Wiebusch said.
More than 400 roads across the state remain closed.
Mr Wiebusch reiterated pleas for drivers to stay away from floodwater.
"It could be the last decision you make," he said.
Flood rescues in north-eastern Victoria
The SES was called in to rescue several people by boat from the Walwa Riverside Caravan Park late on Tuesday night as flood water rose quickly.
Manager Heidi Conway said several guests were at the park at the time and no one had time to prepare.
"It just came up really really fast and it was quite high so the sandbags wouldn't have done much," she said.
She has been managing the park for the last five and a half years and said there have been two floods during that time but nothing this bad.
"[The previous floods] just came into the common area of the park which is right on the Murray River. That's what we thought this one was going to be but no, it kept coming," she said.
Ms Conway is staying in town at a friends for the time being but is anxiously waiting to return and see the damage.
"We're just worried that the water might get into our residence because it wasn't far off when we were eventually evacuated.
"I just want to try and get back to the house just to see how much damage has occurred there and just try to organise a few personal items if I can and get them out of there."
It's approaching the busy Christmas period when the caravan park is usually at 100 per cent capacity.
Ms Conway is now waiting to assess the damage and to see if the floods will have any impact on the peak tourist season.
Boy sucked into drain reunited with rescuers
An 11-year-old boy who was sucked into a stormwater drain at Altona, in Melbourne's west, last week has thanked his rescuers face to face.
Jake Gilbert was riding with a friend when he fell and was sucked underwater and into a pipe, before managing to grab onto a grate and call for help.
He said he felt like he blacked out before realising where he was, and calling for help.
"Very scared, very much in shock and sort of thinking I can't believe that's happened to me and like how have I survived?" he said.
Jake said he was relieved when an SES worker and a police officer arrived at the scene.
"I started to lose strength and I remember asking them if they could hold the tips of my fingers down so I sort of felt safer then."
First Constable Peter Ivory reassured Jake as the grate was slowly removed, allowing the 11-year-old to be removed.
"Straight away you new it was a dire situation. We jumped out of the vehicle and straight away worked at trying to get him out," he said.
"The first thing I noticed were Jake's fingers in the grate just trying to hold on for dear life.
"My first instinct was to grab onto those fingers and let him know we were going to get him out."
Jake spent a night in hospital but has made a full recovery from his ordeal.
