Most of north-east Victoria’s record rains fell in areas below the river’s catchments with flood warnings continuing to be issued along the river yesterday.

The peak flow still has several weirs to negotiate before it arrives in Sunraysia and the authorities were yesterday not prepared to speculate on the size of the flow.

“There are a lot of empty and or near empty creeks and lakes which will soak up a fair bit on the way down,” one official said.

The Murray-Darling Basin Authority is not expecting to remove Mildura’s unique weir because of the flood.

The steel trestle structure, built in 1927 to dam water for irrigation, is the last one of its type left on the river.

“We will only take it out if we need to, but we are not expecting to,” a MDBA spokesman said.

The NSW State Emergency Service is predicting flood levels to reach the “minor” stage in the Deniliquin and Moama areas.

The SES is tipping the peak will reach Echuca on September 15 with “moderate rural flooding”.

The peak is expected to reach just above a “moderate flood level” at Barham on September 19.

Barham is only about 300 river kilometres from Mildura.

“Minor rural flooding is expected ... farmers should be prepared to move livestock, pumps and machinery.”

The SES is expected to issue another flood bulletin today to prepare areas further downstream, possibly as far as Mildura.

This story appeared in Thursday’s Sunraysia Daily 9/9/2010.