Towns across Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania are being urged to evacuate as the states brace for more wild weather after being lashed by heavy rainfall on Thursday.
State emergency services are expecting heavy rainfall and potential flooding to continue in the south-east of Australia over the coming weeks.
Victoria:
Residents in northern and central Victoria are on high alert, as six areas are being ordered to ‘evacuate immediately’ on Friday morning.
Locals in Wedderburn, Benalla, Carisbrook, Seymour, Rochester and those who are near the Maribyrnong river in Melbourne’s west are all directed to leave.
There are also emergency warnings in place for many other communities, including directions for people to move to higher ground in locations such as Barnadown and Euroa.
Community relief centres have been set up in Echuca and Seymour in the north, Skipton and Creswick near Ballarat, and Maryborough north-west of Melbourne.
New South Wales:
In New South Wales, an evacuation order was issued on Thursday for the central west town of Forbes. The order was expected to affect around 500 residents, who were urged to leave on Thursday night.
The Lachlan River is expected to reach a major flood peak of 10.6 metres on Friday.
An evacuation centre was set up at the Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church on Harold Street.
A search was continuing in the area for a 63-year-old man thought to have been swept into floodwaters.
Tasmania:
Major warnings were issued for the Mersey and Meander rivers in the north of Tasmania, and four evacuation centres have been set up in Railton, Latrobe, Ulverstone and Deloraine.
Evacuation orders were issued between Liena and Latrobe and between Meander and Hadspen.
People were also urged to evacuate from the area of Lake Isandula Dam, which is at risk of failure in the areas of Isandula Road, Preston Road and Gawler Road towards Ulverstone.
In the early hours of Friday morning, an evacuate now order was issued for residents in parts of Newstead, near Hart Street.
Source: ABC News.
