Mildura residents have flocked to a riverside eatery to help clear it of food and stock ahead of the moderate flooding expected over the next few weeks.
The Murray River at Mildura is expected to reach moderate flood levels between November 21 and 25 and could reach major levels by December.
Dockside Cafe owner Jodie Bromley said November and December were usually the busiest months of the year, but the business had to cancel all bookings, including weddings, because floodwater was anticipated to rise a metre above the venue's floor.
Ms Bromley said the community's response to her call for help on social media had been amazing.
"Everyone who saw the post and came down and said 'What else can we do to help?'" she said.
"It's been a positive out of all the negatives that have come out."
A meeting about the anticipated flooding will take place at the city's sporting precinct on Deakin Avenue at 4pm on Sunday.
On Friday about 100 students at the Koondrook Primary school were evacuated when water started lapping at the top of a levee built to protect the school from Murray River flooding.
The school is built in a bend of the river and is surrounded by water on three sides.
But late Friday, the State Emergency Service admitted that while levees were failing in a number of locations along the Murray River, the evacuation order for the Koondrook school had created "unnecessary alarm".
Blue sky floods
SES chief operating officer Tim Wiebusch said the seriousness of the flood risk could be easily underestimated due to the warm and sunny weather forecast for the week ahead.
"Particularly along the Murray River system now we are going to see major flooding over the next month all the way through to the South Australian border," he told ABC Victoria Statewide Drive.
"So early December we will see major flooding in Mildura, for example."
Mr Wiebusch said large-scale damage to homes was unlikely in the north-west of Victoria.
"Where we've seen recently in Rochester and Shepparton … significant township inundation, that won't be the case at Swan Hill, or Robinvale or Mildura," he said.
"But what we will see is roads being cut — we'll see low-lying recreation reserves, sporting pavilions, caravan parks, all of those will come under pressure with major flooding.
"We will see some localised impacts to residential properties in low-lying areas, but we're not going to see the main street of Mildura or Swan Hill … under pressure from major flooding."
At Echuca, in northern Victoria, the Murray River peaked at 94.98 metres above sea level on Wednesday, October 26.
It will remain above major flood level until early next week, when river levels will start to subside and pressure eases on the levees in the historic town.
