The La Nina effect that has fuelled record flooding in Victoria is expected to persist into autumn - but it might not bring high rainfall, the weather bureau says.
Heavy rain in the state's southwest, north, northwest and central regions last week left four catchments struggling to cope with major flooding.
Despite one quarter of the state being inundated, rain stopped falling in most parts of Victoria last weekend and no significant rainfall is forecast for the rest of the week.
Bureau of Meteorology climatologist Belinda Campbell says very warm sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean associated with La Nina in the past six months have produced low-pressure systems and brought tropical moisture south to Victoria.
But La Nina, more strongly linked to spring conditions, meant there was no clear indication whether it would continue to produce similar rainfall into autumn, Ms Campbell said.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"There's no particularly strong favour towards being wet or dry for the January-to-March period," she told AAP.
Floodwaters have charted a punishing course across large slabs of rural and regional Victoria and even metropolitan areas since the first town was hit last Tuesday week in Natimuk, in the state's northwest, prompting evacuations from 12 homes.
The highest rainfall recorded was in the town of Jeparit, which recorded 161.2mm, while some areas in the west received their summer rainfall averages in just five days.
In nearby Horsham, the council distributed 3,000 sandbags to homes and businesses on Wednesday, while in central Victoria the town of Kyneton in central Victoria was hit by flash flooding.
Campers were advised to leave sites on the Great Ocean Road on Wednesday in the southwest as the tourist road was closed between Lorne and Apollo Bay due to landslides.
On Thursday major flood warnings were in place for the Loddon, Campaspe, Avoca and Wimmera rivers in the state's north and west, while Natimuk braced for a second round of flooding.
By Friday, almost the entire population of around 1,000 people had left the central Victorian town of Carisbrook as two creeks passing through the town broke their banks and the nearby reservoir spilled over.
Meanwhile, flooding spread to the Melbourne suburb of Maribyrnong. The Anglers Tavern pub was sandbagged, with the Maribyrnong River expected to peak at 3.5 metres.
Further west, residents of the Werribee Open Range Zoo, including giraffes, rhinos and zebras, were moved to higher ground south of Melbourne to escape the Werribee River rising towards a minor flood level.
Many locals from the Murray River town of Echuca packed up on Friday night amid predictions the Campaspe would peak. About 8,000 residents in the northwest and northern areas of Wedderburn, St Arnaud, Donald, Birchip, Wycheproof and Boort lost power after a substation in Charlton was flooded.
By Saturday extensive sandbagging was in place at Rochester - also on the Campaspe - with two-thirds of residents told to move.
Sixty-five patients at the Rochester hospital have been transferred to medical centres outside the area, while more than 400 Charlton properties, in north central Victoria, were flooded, and much of the town was evacuated.
Floodwaters were also encroaching on the towns of Skipton, Casterton, Kerang and Rupanyup and again in Horsham.
At Wycheproof in the Mallee region, residents of 522 properties on the town's west side were told to leave their homes.
On Tuesday a seven-year-old boy became the first casualty of the Victorian floods after disappearing while swimming with his siblings in a billabong off the swollen Goulburn River at Kialla West, near Shepparton, in the state's northeast.
The rising Wimmera River had inundated 15 homes in Horsham and isolated 500, creating a large lake in the town centre, while residents braced for a predicted one-in-200-year flood.
In the small wheat-belt town of Warracknabeal, residents were preparing for inundation as the Yarriambiack Creek threatened to overflow, while fears were growing for a levee bank holding back the rising Loddon River in Kerang.
By Wednesday, about 1,000 residents had fled Kerang, with only one road out of town remaining open.
That road is now closed and the town could be isolated until at least the weekend.
The small communities of Jeparit, Dimboola, Brim and Beulah in the state's northwest could be inundated in coming days. Hydrologist Johann Veldema says it has taken almost a week for waters to reach some communities as catchments filled gradually.
The Loddon and Campaspe Rivers flow into the Murray River, but lake systems fed by other rivers become overwhelmed and unable to accept further flows.
Mr Veldema said floodwaters were driven by gravity and would always move downstream, resulting in floods kilometres wide. "Usually the nature of a catchment is that a catchment will start in the hills and usually the topography there is fairly steep so the water moves fairly quickly.
He said flood-affected towns like Kerang located downstream of a catchment area took longer to receive the water because it was built on a flat floodplain.
