REGIONAL Victoria should brace itself for more flooding today with communities placed on high alert and emergency service workers gearing up to provide aid in Shepparton and Horsham.
There are fears that a levee in Wangaratta might not hold and an emergency meeting was being called to warn residents.
''This flood emergency is far from over,'' the acting director of operations for State Emergency Services, Tim Wiebusch, warned.
The SES received 4500 calls for assistance during the floods and emergency alerts were sent to 55,000 Victorians.
Up to 300 properties throughout the state received water damage from minor to major, with the SES bolstering its overworked Victorian ranks with crews from Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia.
Premier John Brumby expected the damage bill to be in the tens of millions of dollars but less than the Gippsland floods of 2007, which cost $60 million.
Up to 60 houses were said to be under threat in Wangaratta last night and locals were being evacuated amid fears that a levee might not hold after at least two flaws were discovered.
At Charlton, in north-central Victoria, the Avoca River rose above the peak of 1983 and the local police station was forced to close as floodwaters continued to rise, also hitting shops and houses.
''We are seeing a flood emergency that is still evolving,'' Mr Wiebusch said.
The army and fire brigades were also drafted in to help out and houses in Bairnsdale were being doorknocked last night and placed on high alert.
The attention appeared certain to shift to Bairnsdale and Shepparton today with residents being ferried to safety yesterday as their properties started to become isolated.
Mr Wiebusch said emergency crews had been in touch with families on the outskirts of Shepparton with up to 60 houses under direct threat.
''That number could change, depending on what height the river actually reaches,'' he said. ''That could result in many, many more houses being at risk in Shepparton.
''We have also established an incident control centre for the Wimmera River, which is expected to peak throughout the Horsham township tomorrow … that community is also now on alert.''
The weather bureau has warned there will continue to be scattered showers in already affected areas over the next few days.
Margaret Batt, who runs the Gentle Annie Camping Reserve in King Valley, 245 kilometres north-east of Melbourne, is still waiting to see how costly the damage from the floods will be, but she knows it will be bad. She left the camp grounds on Saturday morning with her husband, Graeme, as the fast-flowing King River was bursting its banks. They had already lost their pump house and power distribution substation.
Although some stock throughout the state will be lost and fencing damaged, the Victorian Farmers Federation said an early alert had cut the cost.
''The pre-warning that we got out of the weather bureau was good and allowed people to shift stock to higher ground,'' the federation's president, Andrew Broad, said.
''Generally speaking, there's a bit more optimism; we are conscious that we have had so many dry years that we are a bit reluctant to criticise it. With water running into the catchments, let's not be too down on it.''
But he said it was ''hard to justify running water down the north-south pipeline with Melbourne's storage levels sitting at a high enough level to supply all of Melbourne until the desal plant comes on board. There's no justification that I can see for that at the moment.''
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