After the drought, then the rain, now come the floods for Victoria

[depakid]

FLOODWATERS could leave Victorians cut off from supplies and contact this weekend, as the state continues its remarkable shift away from a decade of drought.

People living across northern Victoria have been told to prepare equipment and food supplies in case floodwaters leave them isolated, as significant rainfall is forecast to boost rivers already swollen by a wet winter.

Emergency Services yesterday warned that a series of rivers across North-Eastern Victoria - the Ovens, King, Broken and Goulburn - were facing ''a real threat of major flooding'', with rainfall as high as 100 millimetres expected tomorrow.

...Many local roads are expected to be cut off but authorities said they did not expect the Hume Highway to be interrupted, as it was by floods in 1993.

Melbourne and Geelong will also experience a wet weekend, but only minor flood warnings are in place for the Upper Yarra and Barwon Rivers.

The warm, moist weather system has originated in the Northern Territory, and its warmth means it will deliver rain instead of snow to Victoria's Alpine resorts.

The flood warnings are the latest chapter in a 12-month period that has revived much of Victoria from more than a decade of drought. A host of Victorian waterways - including the Wimmera River and Lake Eppalock - are enjoying their best water levels in years, but perhaps the most striking sign of revival can be found at Bonnie Doon, where the waters of Lake Eildon are once again lapping under the Maroondah Highway bridge.

Dry ground beneath the bridge became a symbol of the crippling drought.

More: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/water-issues/after-the-drought-then-the-rain-now-come-the-floods-20100902-14rnw.html?autostart=1