FLOODWATERS could leave Victorians cut off from supplies and contact this weekend, as the state continues its remarkable shift away from a decade of drought.
People living across northern Victoria have been told to prepare equipment and food supplies in case floodwaters leave them isolated, as significant rainfall is forecast to boost rivers already swollen by a wet winter.
Emergency Services yesterday warned that a series of rivers across North-Eastern Victoria - the Ovens, King, Broken and Goulburn - were facing ''a real threat of major flooding'', with rainfall as high as 100 millimetres expected tomorrow.
Minor flooding is also expected in North-Western and South-Western districts, where rivers such as the Wimmera are already running at their highest levels for close to 15 years.
State Emergency Service spokesman Tim Wiebusch said it was too early to predict where evacuations could be needed, but people in regions of possible inundation needed to bolster food stocks and prepare a toolkit with torches.
''If we do see 100 millimetres of rain or more, there is the possibility of people needing to be relocated or also being isolated because of those floodwaters,'' he said.
''If people do find themselves in isolation, they should make sure they're listening and watching the elements around them, and should not attempt to either walk through or drive through floodwaters, but to stay on higher ground.''
Many local roads are expected to be cut off but authorities said they did not expect the Hume Highway to be interrupted, as it was by floods in 1993.
Melbourne and Geelong will also experience a wet weekend, but only minor flood warnings are in place for the Upper Yarra and Barwon Rivers.
The warm, moist weather system has originated in the Northern Territory, and its warmth means it will deliver rain instead of snow to Victoria's Alpine resorts.
The flood warnings are the latest chapter in a 12-month period that has revived much of Victoria from more than a decade of drought.
A host of Victorian waterways - including the Wimmera River and Lake Eppalock - are enjoying their best water levels in years, but perhaps the most striking sign of revival can be found at Bonnie Doon, where the waters of Lake Eildon are once again lapping under the Maroondah Highway bridge.
Dry ground beneath the bridge became a symbol of the crippling drought.
Bonnie Doon Caravan Park owner Ray Octigan says a bumper tourist season awaits. ''The effect up here will be amazing because the impact of this weir when it's full just has a huge benefit to Bonnie Doon … it's just going to bring thousands and thousands to this area,'' he said.
After dropping close to just 25 per cent of capacity barely 15 months ago, Melbourne's dams are now close to 42 per cent full, swelled by more than three weeks' supply over the past seven days.
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