The South Australian premier has declared a major emergency as floodwaters in the River Murray continue to rise.
The looming flooding crisis is being worsened by a dangerous combination of conditions across the state including huge wind gusts.
Premier Peter Malinauskas officially declared the weather event a major emergency and the state’s Police Commissioner Grant Stevens has been given extra powers.
Wind gusts of up to 100km/h have already lashed Adelaide and the state’s south-east this morning, including parts of the Riverland where record-breaking flooding is expected to strike communities.
The River Murray has already swollen to dangerous levels, with concerns the weather event could turn deadly.
More than a million sandbags as well as eight kilometres of a specialist flood barrier have been deployed to the Riverland region to help residents prepare.
New South Wales
Despite relatively dry conditions across the country today dozens of flood warnings remain in place across three states.
New South Wales has continued to experience major flooding in almost every river system west of the divide.
At Forbes, crews are conducting rapid damage assessments after the community was swallowed by the deluge.
Waters are expected to peak at Condobolin by Wednesday before they eventually move downstream to Eurabalong.
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The state’s current flooding event is now in its 68th day.
Condobolin residents have been warned they will likely see the worst flooding event on record this week after an already devastating 12 months.
In Eugowra, the clean-up effort is well underway, mostly thanks to community volunteers and emergency service personnel.
Some 200 cars are expected to be recovered from the deluge.
Victoria
Meanwhile, in Victoria, there are almost 20 flood warnings currently in place.
In the 24 hours to 6am today, Victoria’s State Emergency Service received 491 pleas for help from communities.
These included 313 downed trees, 40 calls relating to building damage, and 17 incidents relating to flood.
