Victoria has had one of the wettest starts to the year on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
“The first nine days of January 2024 have been the wettest nine days of January that we’ve had for the state on record,” senior meteorologist Bri Macpherson said.
“If we had no further rainfall for the rest of January, this month would still be within the top 20 wettest Januaries we’ve had on record.”
This has been felt throughout the region, with the Campaspe River at Rochester reaching 114.62m AHD following heavy rains on Sunday, January 7.
According to North Central Catchment Management Authority, the Campape River at Echuca is expected to peak overnight Wednesday and into Thursday morning.
This is a change from the initial advice of a peak of early Wednesday.
“The river gauge is still slowly rising in response to the floodwaters that have spread across the floodplain downstream of Rochester and making their way back into the river at Echuca,” floodplain manager Camille White said.
“It is likely to continue to very slowly rise overnight into tomorrow morning but not expected to exceed the moderate flood level of 94.4m AHD.”
At a state press conference on Wednesday, Victoria SES chief operations officer Tim Wiebusch said they were not expecting levels anything like 2022.
There will be some local road closures and inundation.
It is now safe to return to Rochester, with the evacuation order now lifted for the town.
Minor flooding is still occurring on the Campaspe River in the town.
Travel to and from the area has become easier with all major roads opening and public transport returning.
While some smaller roads, like parts of Burnewang Rd, are still closed, VicRoads has advised that the Northern Hwy is now open.
If people plan to travel to Melbourne via V/Line, coaches are still replacing Bendigo line trains between Bendigo and Echuca from January 10 to January 12.
Coaches will depart Echuca at the scheduled train departure times stopping all stations to Bendigo.
Passengers will then transfer to the next departing services towards Southern Cross Station.
Due to the rising Murray River, toilets, picnic tables and barbecues were removed from Moama beach on Wednesday.
This was done under the advice of the NSW SES.