The Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) yesterday said a “moderate rise” was expected in the river over the next few weeks, which some are calling a mini-flood.

Mini or not, it will still be the single biggest volume of water to pass Mildura for seven years.

An authority spokesman said recent rain would cause rises in river levels over the next few weeks between Torrumbarry and Lake Victoria.

“However, the current forecasts indicate that downstream of Barham, the peak water levels will remain well within the river channel and well below minor flood levels,” he said.

The rise is the result of rains, particularly in the Goulburn catchment.

Most of the rise is going to be diverted into Lake Victoria for use later in the irrigation season for South Australian users.

The MDBA said people in Mildura will see slightly higher flows in the river during the next few weeks.

The current higher levels of flows in the river through Sunraysia are the highest rates since 2003.

The last time that the river at Mildura exceeded minor flood level was in November 1993.

It has rained on 16 out of 25 days this month – mostly in drips and drops – but enough to push the progressive rainfall total for August to 28.2mm.

With four days still to go before the sun sets on what has seemed an unusually wet, cold winter, and more rain forecast today and tomorrow, many Sunraysia residents are trying to recall when the district had such a wet August, on top of an unusually wet winter.

To find a wetter August, one need look back no further than than two years, when the Mildura Airport weather station recorded 34.2mm of rain, a spokesman for the Bureau of Meteorology said yesterday.

For more of this story, purchase your copy of Friday’s Sunraysia Daily 27/8/2010.