Dozens of communities across Victoria remain under threat from floodwaters as weary emergency crews battle to get on top of hundreds of calls to storm-damaged houses.
The worst effects of the heaviest floods in Victoria in more than 15 years are yet to be felt, with hundreds more homes expected to be inundated.
The rain eased on Sunday after falls of up to 200mm but the state of emergency remains, with floodwaters yet to peak.
The cost of the floods will be in the millions of dollars and massive areas have been, and will be, affected, with floodwaters peaking near Benalla and Wangaratta in the northeast but yet to peak in the Goulburn River in the north, the Wimmera River in the west and the Mitchell and Macalister rivers in Gippsland.
More than 250 homes had been evacuated in the northeast by Sunday night, including in Euroa, Benalla, Myrtleford, Bright and Jamieson.
SES volunteers were doorknocking parts of Bairnsdale, about 280km east of Melbourne, late on Sunday, where flooding threatened to inundate about 50 homes.
Severe winds lashed Victoria's west coast and Melbourne's bayside suburbs on Saturday night causing trees to fall and
damaging buildings.
By 10.30pm (AEST) on Sunday, the SES had more than 600 emergency calls outstanding across metropolitan Melbourne, state controller Stephen Warren said.
"The volunteers got hammered (on Sunday) because of the thousands of jobs they had," he said.
"Obviously we're asking people to be patient because we're dealing with thousands of calls through the floods, and the wind storm hitting Melbourne put a bit of pressure on us overnight.
"We've got some still outstanding. We've assessed the priority jobs but some of them until Monday because the volunteers have been flat out for a couple of days and there is only so much they can do."
Towns near the Mitchell and Macalister rivers in the east, especially those below the dam at Lake Glenmaggie, remain threatened by floods and could be left isolated by road closures.
Authorities are warning residents north of Wangaratta to boil for at least three minutes any water they use as their supply could come from the Ovens River, where floods have caused the sewerage system to leak into the river north of Wangaratta.
More rain is forecast later in the week, although not as heavy, with up to 30mm expected. But it could cause extra flooding because of the weekend's events making the ground wet.
"Some of the rivers have peaked. Some are still coming up," Mr Warren said.
"The rain has eased off a little bit. Hopefully the levels will steady a little bit more now and we can get an idea of what the effects will be downstream in the next couple of days.
"But this operation will be going for a while before we see all this water out of the state."
Minor to moderate flood warnings remain in place for a host of streams including the Mitchell, Macalister, Yarra, Maribyrnong, Werribee, Barwon, Glenelg, Mitta Mitta, Ovens, King, Broke,. Goulburn, Loddon, Campaspe, Avoca, Wimmera and Murray Rivers.
