Rochester residents are beginning the painstaking clean-up after the Campaspe River tore through the town on Friday.
The SES performed 160 rescues in the town as the waters rose.
SES Rochester controller Tim Williams said the whole town was inundated.
“Every single house in town will have water,” he said.
The flood surpassed the devastating levels of 2011 and sadly turned deadly, with 71-year-old local Kevin Wills being found dead in his flooded backyard on Saturday morning.
“Tragically, a man has passed away in Rochester,” Premier Daniel Andrews said.
“I know how close-knit the Rochester community is, and this will be impacting you all. Our hearts go out to you all.”
Residents were evacuated to relief centres in Echuca and Bendigo.
Victorian SES chief officer operations Tim Wiebusch gave an update on the situation in the town on Sunday.
“The Rochester township has experienced significant inundation,” he said.
“But it is now receding at that location, but we are still expecting major flood levels to be there for another few days.”
Resident Eliza Watson described the flood as a “swirling, rushing monster”.
“Last time it didn’t get close to the front door,” she said.
“There are no words to describe the monstrosity or destruction of that flood, it was unfathomable. And we know there is a heck of a lot of work ahead of us as we ride the roller coaster that will be the clean-up.”
She said she had faith the town would once again pull together in the face of disaster.
“We are an incredibly strong community,” she said.
“We saw it in the number of people filling and loading sandbags, in the people walking through freezing water to rescue those stranded in their houses, in the offers of support and accommodation. So many ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
“The generosity of the Rochy community lifts you up when you feel like you cannot move. But this was a big traumatic experience for many and I think it’s going to take a lot of talking, a lot of hands-on helping and a lot of time to recover.”
Rochester farmer Toby Acocks said the amount of support from people across the district had been “overwhelming”.
“I’d like to thank each and every person who has messaged or called over the last couple of days,” he said.
“It’s been bloody hectic here but almost overwhelming with the amount of support.”
Mr Acocks said the original home on his family’s property, the Forres homestead, was inundated for the first time in 170 years.
“We have been surrounded by water but our house has escaped by perhaps 100mm,” he said.
He said people were going to great lengths to support each other in the aftermath of the disaster.
“I drove a machine into water this morning trying to get feed to isolated neighbours. I’ve wrecked the radiator by water pushing the fan into it,” he said.
“Terry Michael of Moama has sourced replacement parts from both Moama and Ballarat and has had them flown to Bendigo for me already and a mate is picking them up to bring them here this arvo.
“We had people drive for 2.5 hours to get from Elmore to Tom and Em at the dairy between us and Rochy to help feed calves.”
Mr Acocks said the family dog went missing for a time during the height of the floods.
“We thought we’d lost our Jack Russell Roxy to the flooding but when I went to fuel a generator running our freezers she rose from the waters to reinvigorate a demoralised household,” he said.
In town, resident Diana O’Brien said the sunny weather was helping to lift spirits as the clean-up began.
“The sunshine has been a great help and motivator,” she said.
Ms O’Brien lives on the western side of Rochester, more than a kilometre from the bridge over the Campaspe.
“A surge at about 12.30am rose the water levels again, submerging my deck and front room,” she said on Saturday.
“My house is now like a houseboat, water is slowly receding.
“I’m thinking of everyone whose houses are affected, such a huge clean-up ahead.”
The town’s residents are pulling together to begin the clean-up, with Rochester Community House asking those who can help to register, so the process can be organised.
“We know people want to help,” the organisation posted on Facebook.
“We are in the process of doing a Google doc for you to register, so please be patient.
“In the meantime if you are a group or organisation that can offer assistance, send us an email to rochy@communityhouse.org.au and tell us who you are, and what you are offering.”
The organisation said help would be needed across coming days, weeks and months.
“We will need people to cook food for volunteers, volunteers to rip up carpets etc,” it said.
“There is still a lot of water around and we cannot get into many houses, so this will be a long process.
“But if you are in town currently and see a house that has sandbags across doors and you can safely get to them, please try and remove the bags so that the water inside can escape.”