People in parts of Mildura and surrounding towns have been told to evacuate as the Murray River continues to rise.
Residents in parts of Mildura, Bruces Bend and Nichols Point were told to leave by 7pm on Thursday.
Authorities are warning that some houses are being surrounded by water and that roads in and out of the area are likely to be impacted by deep floodwater.
The emergency warning has been issued for Mildura residents in Etiwanda Avenue, Benetook Avenue, Cowra Avenue and Cureton Avenue East.
People living in Nichols Point, Bruces Bend and surrounding areas have also been told to evacuate.
Marina operator Brett Pickering's office was almost completely underwater by midday Thursday.
"The only way in here at the moment is by boat — the road's under one to two metres of water, currently," he said.
"It's quite surreal driving over that road [in a boat]."
Mr Pickering was among those who evacuated earlier this month in preparation for the flood.
His business has been shut for three weeks as a result.
"We've had to put all the boats out in the middle [of the river]," he said.
"The business — we don't know how long we're going to be in flood for, it's probably going to be the best part of summer.
"It'll be a fairly lean time through that period."
Get out or get cut off, SES says
The State Emergency Service is warning that the flooding may last for weeks and that residents that do not evacuate could become isolated.
A relief centre has been set up at the Alfred Deakin Centre.
Mildura incident controller Russell Manning said the flooding was expected to increase throughout the week.
"It's currently just below the major flood level, similar to what 1973 were," he said.
"There's still about half a metre to rise."
Mr Manning said many residents in the impacted areas had sand-bagged and left their homes early, but those that don't could be in trouble.
"Some people have chosen to leave it until the last minute, but we don't have the time and resources to get them out then," he said.
"It's safer to evacuate now."
'Flood tourists' not helping
Mildura City councillor and Nichols Point resident Jason Modica said he and the community had been preparing for the flood for weeks and understood the danger it posed.
"Protect yourself first, then do as much as you can to protect your property," he said.
"When a river of this volume comes, it wants to go where it has for thousands of years.
"People are lending things, there is a whole lot of people just making sure everyone around them can do what they can do and give help when they can."
Cr Modica said the community spirit in affected areas had been remarkable, but warned that people who drove into flood-affected areas could hamper the efforts of emergency services.
"There's been a few flood tourists," he said.
"I don't want to be too harsh on them because they are trying to see something really unique, but the situation is volatile around those areas."
'Not a single breach' in Euabalong
Meanwhile in the New South Wales Central West, residents who opted to stay in Euabalong are confident their levee will hold against record flooding from the Lachlan River.
Yesterday afternoon the SES issued an urgent order for those who had decided to remain in the village to leave by air.
There were also warnings that the township could be inundated and access to essential services such as power and water would be cut.
The river peaked at 7.82m overnight and is expected to hold steady at about 7.8m for the next week.
Many of the 200 residents in the already isolated town had left ahead of time.
Erin Dooley is among the 40 or so who opted to stay and help defend the township.
Floodwater has reached her home, but she is remaining positive.
"The levee is holding up brilliantly and we haven't had a single breach," she said.
"Of course we are still cautious and alert and all ready to get on the shovels should we need to repair any breaches.
"We are in back-end preparation mode today, just in case, stockpiling our evacuation site and making sure we have enough gas bottles and non-perishables to keep us going if we lose power."
Residents return to Forbes
A fortnight after evacuating, Forbes residents are returning home and beginning to clean up.
Four properties were completely destroyed in the area, which flooded for a second time after a major clean-up effort.
About 400 properties of the 1,400 that underwent rapid damage assessments have been deemed uninhabitable.
"It just swallowed everything up," Helen Field said as she surveyed her home.
"We survived the first one … but not this one.
"This one was just chaotic — it was just horrible."
Multiple agencies are on the ground, as are Australian Defence Force personnel.
King Charles III has sent a letter to the NSW SES expressing his concern about the flooding.
He said he and Queen Consort Camilla were following the news coverage from the United Kingdom.
The monarch sent the letter with the Governor-General Margaret Beazley, who visited the SES headquarters and Defence personnel in Wollongong on Thursday.
