Army and police reinforce flood-hit Victoria

Heavy rain and water from the Broken River flooded Benalla in northeast Victoria. Photo / Getty Images

Victoria faced its worst floods in more than a decade at the weekend, with 200mm of rain falling in some areas.

Rain in the state has eased but the emergency is not over, with many towns set to be flooded in the next few days.

Northeast Victoria faced flooding last night when water from the Broken River flowed into Benalla while water from Fifteen Mile Creek and the Ovens River swelled into Wangaratta.

Areas all around the state remain threatened by floods, including towns near the Mitchell River, Macalister River and Lake Glenmaggie in the Gippsland region in Victoria's east.

The Wimmera region, in the west, is experiencing the worst flooding in two decades, with the Avoca River and Wimmera River bursting. Water from the Goulburn River will affect properties around north central areas including Seymour, Nagambie Murchison and Shepparton.

"Our state is very wet, we are seeing flood levels that we haven't seen for many years," said State Emergency Service controller Tim Wiebusch.

"Gippsland, it's probably been five years since we've seen some decent flooding there, 15 years up in the northeast of the state and many more years up in the Wimmera [in the north-west of the state] in particular."

So far 250 homes have been inundated by floods but that number is certain to rise, according to Victorian Premier John Brumby.

Victoria's northeast was the hardest hit on Saturday, when the towns of Euroa, Benalla and Myrtleford were issued with emergency evacuation alerts.

Flash flooding also hit areas west of Melbourne including Creswick and Clunes.

An extra 150 police have been sent to flood-hit areas, defence force personnel will be deployed and Victoria's new emergency alert phone messaging system has been used seven times so far with flood warnings and advice sent to 51,000 Victorians.

"We've been in touch with the federal Government so there will be some defence deployment ... 50 defence personnel in the north of the state assisting with things like relief, evacuations or relocations and sandbagging and holding back the water," Brumby said.

More rain is forecast later in the week - not as heavy with up to 30mm expected but extra flooding could result because of the already saturated ground.

- AAP