Flash floods have hit parts of western Victoria and authorities are warning other regions to stay informed as a low pressure trough makes its way across the state.
Emergency Victoria has issued a watch and act warning at Halls Gap in western Victoria, following localised flash floods on Wednesday morning.
Emergency Victoria said residents should stay indoors and not enter flood waters.
Victoria’s State Emergency Service received nine calls for help.
The rains come a day after the Bureau of Meteorology warned of a 70 per cent likelihood of a 2023 El Nino weather event, which is associated with drier conditions in eastern Australia.
The Bureau has issued flood watch alerts for parts of northern Victoria and greater Melbourne, including Bunyip River and Dandenong Creek, Yarra River upstream and downstream of Coldstream, Maribyrnong River, Werribee River, Upper Murray and Mitta Mitta rivers, Kiewa River, Ovens and King rivers, Seven and Castle creeks, Loddon River and Avoca River.
For many in the warning areas, the weather brings memories of October 2022’s record floods, which inundated homes and businesses across the state, devastating communities like Shepparton, Rochester, Echuca and others along the Murray River and its tributaries.
The mid-October floods that cut across Victoria, NSW, SA and Tasmania caused more than half a billion dollars in insurance losses, adding to the more than $5 billion lost to floods six months earlier in NSW and Queensland, according to the Insurance Council of Australia.
The council estimates the bill for Australian floods since 2020 is about $12 billion.