Floods hit towns in Victoria of Australia
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The town of Horsham in Australia' s state of Victoria was expecting "a one in a 100-year flood", Horsham municipal emergency resources officer David Eltringham said Sunday.
"This flood will be a good half a meter or more higher than the flood we had through in September," he told Australia Associated Press (AAP) on Sunday, adding that locals have been sandbagging properties and key assets.
On Sunday, state Premier Ted Baillieu visited Echuca and flood- ravaged Carisbrook, where he said essential services must be fixed in the town, including its sewerage system.
He said these floods are clearly causing significant grief around Victoria and arguably this flood event is one of the biggest in Victoria's history.
The swollen Campaspe River could flood dozens of other towns in the coming days by the extreme rainfall that has battered the state.
So far this week, 14,000 properties across Victoria have been flooded and 3,500 people have been forced to abandon their homes.
Forty-three towns have been affected by the floods, and authorities said it is the worst flooding to hit northern and north-western Victoria since records began.
Hundreds of roads across Victoria have been closed since Friday because of flooding.
More than 6,500 properties in Culgoa and Charlton of Victoria remained without power early on Sunday, as Powercor worked to restore electricity during the day.
According to State Emergency Service (SES) operations director Trevor White, the flood event was one of Victoria's biggest since records began.
"In some of our river systems, we are seeing unprecedented stream rises, the bureau hydrologists are working in close liaison with catchment management authorities at the local level," he told AAP on Sunday.
"The situation is quite dynamic ... as the modelling continues and we continue to monitor stream rises as it moves downstream of the current peak flows some of those figures will be adjusted."
Victoria's flood crisis is expected to continue to threaten towns for days.
