SE Australia hit by flooding

HOMES have been flooded in Melbourne and other cities in Australia’s south-east, with rivers forecast to remain dangerously high for days. About 70 residents were told to leave the suburb of Maribyrnong in Melbourne’s north-west, along with hundreds in the Victoria state cities of Benalla and Wedderburn, authorities said. Melbourne is Australia’s second-most populous city with five million people.

About 500 homes in Victoria were flooded and another 500 had been isolated by floodwater, Victoria premier Daniel Andrews said. Those numbers would increase, he said. Most of the state was experiencing a “very, very, significant rainfall event and it comes, of course, with the ground completely sodden,” Mr Andrews said. “The real challenge now is we’ve got another rain event next week and the Bureau (of Meteorology) forecasting more rain throughout the next six-to-eight week period and it won’t take a lot of additional water for there to be further flood events,” he added. Mr Andrews said 4,700 homes were without power, more than the 3,500 that Victoria State Emergency Service had reported earlier on Friday.