The water through town may be receding, but there were still clear signs of the damage done to Rochester last week by the rampaging floodwaters from the Campaspe River.
Water marks on the walls of houses can be clearly seen and debris from the river littered the streets.
Out the front of homes, piles of furniture, carpet and personal belongings are stacked in on the nature strip, damaged by the torrent that rushed through hundreds of properties.
An excavator drives through town, lifting the debris — what was a week ago people’s possessions and livelihood — into an accompanying tip truck.
The scale of the damage is hard to comprehend. But amidst everything that has happened in the past week, the Rochester community is as strong as ever.
In the centre of town at the Rochester Presbyterian Church, a hub has been set up to help residents with the recovery.
Tables and computers inside help people apply for disaster recovery payments, process insurance claims and complete other essential tasks.
Food and drink are available outside, with local businesses providing free meals for everybody. A food exchange is operating too.
In the shade nearby, Allan Benson sits with his friend Nugget, his tiny eight-week-old Jack Russell cross puppy who is asleep at his feet.
Around the corner, dozens of kids aren’t interested in eating, they are too busy playing football with Rochester local and 200-gamer for North Melbourne Shaun Atley and current Kangaroo Aidan Corr.
Atley and Corr are up at one end, chipping the ball up to a pack of delighted and excited kids down the other.
Former North Melbourne star Atley is from Rochester and has been back in town over the past week. He said it was terrible to see the damage around town.
“It is pretty devastating,” Atley said.
“To walk into someone’s house when they haven’t even been back yet, you have to rip up the carpets and take everything out, the walls, the plaster, it’s just crazy what has happened.
“There are no words really, it’s crazy. The damage that the water can do is insane.”
Corr made the trip up to Rochester to help after seeing one of Atley’s posts on social media, and the pair has been helping where they can.
“Corry has been nice enough to come down and give us a hand as well, which is nice,” Atley said.
“We have just been helping out. My uncle lives down the street and my grandpa is on the river, we have just been chipping in where we can.
“People need help and I am happy to come and help where I can.”
With people from all over town coming together to help one another during the flood crisis, Atley said it was sensational to see the Rochester community so united.
"It means a lot to see everyone come together. There is not one person who isn’t willing to help, which is amazing. Everyone is pitching in and helping where they can,” he said.
“To see the community spirit thrive is awesome. We knew we had a good community, but it shows it even more when this stuff happens and you see everyone come together.”
Floodwaters may have receded in parts of town for now, but Rochester still faces the risk of flooding in the coming days.
Jamie Macri is the Community Resilience co-ordinator for Victoria SES. He was in Rochester on Wednesday and provided an update on the risk still to come.
He was sitting in a room at the Rochester SES station with the carpet ripped up and lines on the wall showing just how high the water level was inside.
In 2011, water only just touched parts of the station. This time, the water had gone all the way through.
Initially, Macri said it was rainfall that would pose the most risk.
With up to 40mm of rain forecasted early next week, Macri said Sunday and Monday would likely be the danger period, if that rain was to occur.
He said that existing water levels would be the problem — because the catchments are all full, that rainfall would put the levels right up, and potentially cause more flooding.
He said he hoped the rain would be spread out as much as possible, with a quick downpour something that could cause trouble.
Macri said Campaspe River peaked at around 115.75m (AHD) in Rochester during the recent flooding, higher than the 115.4m (AHD) recorded in 2011.