Some Victorians are still bracing themselves for worsening conditions while others are in clean-up mode more than a week after widespread heavy rainfall triggered damaging floods.
Both the state and federal governments have made emergency payments available to those affected by the floods.
As of Thursday afternoon, details released by Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes showed the scale of those needing a helping hand.
She said 18,000 applications for support had already been submitted to the Victorian government, with a third of those processed.
How much are the payments?
Lump sum disaster recovery payments of $1000 for adults and $400 for children aged under 16 are available through the federal government.
To be eligible, you must meet a range of criteria set out on the Services Australia website, which includes residing in specific local government areas (LGA).
People are eligible for Commonwealth support if the floods caused major damage to their home or a major asset or if they were seriously injured.
The lump sum payments are not means tested and people will have until April 19, 2023 to submit applications.
In some cases a disaster recovery allowance equivalent to the JobSeeker payment will be available to people whose income has been affected by the floods.
The Victorian government is also offering separate one-off flood relief payments of $560 per adult and $280 per child for those who have had to leave their homes.
What are the eligible local government areas?
Below are the local government areas eligible for Victorian government support.
The list of LGAs eligible for federal support is slightly shorter.
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Alpine Shire
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Ararat Rural City
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Ballarat City
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Banyule City
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Benalla Rural City
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Boroondara City
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Brimbank City
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Buloke Shire
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Campaspe Shire
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Central Goldfields Shire
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Colac Otway Shire
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Corangamite Shire
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Gannawarra Shire
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Glenelg Shire
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Golden Plains Shire
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Greater Bendigo City
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Greater Geelong City
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Greater Shepparton City
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Hepburn Shire
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Horsham Shire
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Hume City
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Indigo Shire
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Loddon Shire
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Macedon Ranges Shire
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Manningham City
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Mansfield Shire
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Maribyrnong City
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Melbourne City
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Mitchell Shire
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Moira Shire
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Moonee Valley City
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Moorabool Shire
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Mount Alexander Shire
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Moyne Shire
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Murrindindi Shire
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Northern Grampians Shire
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Pyrenees Shire
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Strathbogie Shire
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Swan Hill Rural City
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Wangaratta Rural City
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Warrnambool City
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Whittlesea City
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Wodonga City
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Wyndham City
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Yarra Ranges Shire
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Yarriambiak Shire.
How to claim the flood relief payment?
For Victorian government support, you can call the statewide Flood Recovery Hotline on 1800 560 760.
The hotline is open every day from 7:30am and 7:30pm.
You can also visit the dedicated state government page for more flood support information, or directly apply for the emergency flood relief payments here through the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.
For Commonwealth assistance, the payments can be applied for through a MyGov account that is linked to Centrelink.
What other payments are there?
Some other types of support have been announced for people with uninsured homes, farmers and small business owners.
The Victorian government has made payments of up to $43,850 available to those whose homes were badly damaged in the floods, but uninsured.
There is also state government support targeted at farmers and small business owners, including a one-off payment of $10,000 for eligible primary producers and payments of $5,000 for small business owners.
