Floodwaters continue to flow through rivers in central and northern Victoria following torrential rainfall over the last few days, with a risk of major flooding at Wangaratta this Tuesday.

A powerful cold front interacting with a moisture-laden cloudband delivered widespread and heavy rain in Victoria between Saturday August 8 and Monday August 11. This included more than 100 mm in numerous rain gauges across the state’s northeast during the 24 hours to 9am on Monday, including 166 mm at Mt Buffalo Chalet and 127 mm at Cheshunt.

The system that caused this deluge has now cleared from southeastern Australia and will move out over the Tasman Sea on Tuesday. However, the huge amount of water left in its wake continues to cause flooding in Vic.

At 2:30 pm AEST on Tuesday, moderate flooding was occurring in the Loddon, Ovens and Keiwa Rivers and Seven Creeks.

The Ovens River at Wangaratta reached 12.64 m at 1:15 pm on Tuesday, just below the major flood level of 12.7 m. According to the Bureau, the river should remain around the major flood level on Tuesday afternoon and may briefly exceed it.

Looking ahead, another cold front will spread showers across southeastern Australia on Wednesday, including Victoria. This system will be much weaker than the previous front and its rainfall will be considerably less. Fortunately, flood-affected areas in Vic should only see a few millimetres of rain from Wednesday’s front, which won’t be enough to cause further flooding.