State Emergency Services have been slammed with calls for help from the Greater Shepparton area as record rain falls across the region.
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In 48 hours from Wednesday to Friday, the Benalla unit was the busiest in Victoria, attending 30 requests for assistance.
The SES unit in Numurkah attended 19 requests for assistance.
The Mansfield had 18 and Shepparton had 12, contributing to a total of 434 across the state in the 48 hours.
The news comes as Shepparton was drenched with 48.6 mm of rain in just 24 hours from Thursday to Friday morning — the highest ever April daily rainfall recorded at Shepparton Airport, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Shepparton also experienced its highest rainfall for April, 132.8 mm, up from a mere 5.6 mm in 2019, breaking the previous record of 85.4 mm set in 2014.
An SES spokesperson said the Benalla unit had been "whacked" with a range of storm incidents including trees down, building damage and flooding, and assisting ambulance and police personnel.
“In a normal storm surge, there would be five or six call-outs per suburb in a 48-hour period,” the spokesperson said.
“Benalla had 20, making up one in five requests across the north-east region.”
Of the 434 calls for help across the state in 48 hours, 207 were for fallen trees, 112 were for building damage and 80 for flooding.
In the north-east region encompassing Greater Shepparton, there were 150 requests for assistance, the majority for trees, flooding and building damage.
SES operations manager Charlie Sexton said there were minor flood warnings for Seven Creeks from Strathbogie to Euroa and from Euroa to Kialla West on Friday afternoon, with the river set to exceed minor flood level at Kialla West on Saturday.
“Exercise caution in low-lying areas — it takes 15 cm to flood a car,” he said.
“Don’t swim in floodwater. Tree roots can become unstable and can become traffic hazards — people need to stay inside if they can.”
Mr Sexton said Broken River in Benalla had reached minor flood levels, closing Ackerly Ave and Stocky Bridge — a major over-dimension trucking route around Benalla.
He said boardwalks around Benalla and Samaria Rd around Hollands Creek were also closed due to flooding.
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