Overnight rain has renewed river rises across central and north-east Victoria, with the Bureau of Meteorology opening two new flood warnings on Thursday morning and putting the Loddon back on a moderate classification. In Tasmania the Meander River is in minor flood at Meander.
The Loddon warning issued at 8.17am AEST is the fifteenth for this event. It has moderate flooding occurring at Bet Bet and minor flooding at Newstead and Appin South. The Loddon at Laanecoorie Reservoir tailwater was at 1.95 metres and rising, and the Bureau expects it to pass the 3.00 metre moderate level late on Thursday morning.
At Appin South the river was at 3.01 metres and steady, above the 2.80 metre minor level, and is likely to stay there for several days. The peak from last week's rain has already passed that gauge, and levels are now rising again at Kerang further downstream.
Two warnings opened for the first time on Thursday. The one issued at 8.11am has minor flooding occurring on Hughes Creek at Tarcombe Road and minor flooding possible on the Yea River at the Yea GV Water pump station through the morning, after moderate rain across the Goulburn catchment since Wednesday. The second, issued at 9.32am, has Seven Creeks at Euroa at 2.40 metres and steady, below the 2.50 metre minor level, with the Bureau expecting it to be exceeded during Thursday morning and further rises possible.
The wind that came with the trough peaked before midnight. The Bureau cancelled its severe weather warning for East Gippsland, North East, and West and South Gippsland at 4.58am, recording a 117 kilometre per hour gust at Mount Hotham at 11.35pm, 96 at Mount Buller at 11.16pm and 91 at Falls Creek at 11.59pm. The New South Wales warning for the South Coast and Snowy Mountains was cancelled at 8.02am, with 83 kilometre per hour mean winds recorded at Thredbo at 11.43pm. Breezy conditions were expected to hold about the Snowy Mountains through Thursday.
Tasmania is the newer part of the event. The Meander warning issued at 9.49am has the river at Meander at 2.05 metres and steady, above the 2.00 metre minor flood level, and expects it to fall back below that on Thursday afternoon. The Meander at Deloraine Railway Bridge and both Liffey River gauges were rising. On the Mersey, the initial warning issued at 12.14pm on Wednesday had the river at Kimberley at 1.18 metres and steady, well below the 2.40 metre minor level, with minor flooding possible overnight into Thursday.
Elsewhere the picture is unchanged. Minor flood warnings remain current on the Kiewa River at Bandiana, the Avoca River at Charlton and Quambatook, and the Murray River at Barham and downstream of Tocumwal, all carried over from last week. Marine wind warnings are current for Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. The Queensland and New South Wales marine warnings were cancelled overnight, and Western Australia and the Northern Territory have no warnings.
This is the system the Bureau had in its Victorian forecast on Monday, when it put a low pressure trough across South Australia on Tuesday and early Wednesday before sliding it south of Victoria. The rain arrived on schedule and landed on catchments that had not finished draining.
The Bureau will reissue the Yea River and Hughes Creek warning by noon AEST on Thursday and the Seven and Castle Creeks warning by 10.30am on Friday. The Meander warning is next due by noon AEST on Friday. River heights and road closures are published on the Bureau's state warnings pages, at VicEmergency and at alert.tas.gov.au.
