AUTHORITIES are warning people to stay alert but not alarmed, as rain falls on Friday and Saturday in Gippsland.
The Bureau of Meteorology is stressing any rainfall expected is significantly less than what the region received last week, and will not result in a return to severe weather conditions.
Earlier this week, the bureau’s Michael Laczko reminded people there were still a few minor flood warnings current across the state — locally, there were minor flood warnings issued for the Latrobe and Thomson rivers at the time of print on Thursday.
A warning for the Gippsland Lakes was lifted on Wednesday.
“While all these catchments are generally easing, they are easing quite gradually, so we’ll still probably hang onto at least some of these warnings for the next few days,” he said.
According to the bureau’s website on Thursday morning, six to eight millimetres were expected to fall over Sale on Friday, one to three millimetres Saturday, and one millimetre on Sunday.
Conditions were then expected to fine up for Monday and Tuesday.
Mr Laczko said the bureau’s flood team would monitor today’s rainfall situation closely, as it was likely some renewed river rises would occur, but it was “extremely unlikely we’ll see any significant flooding concerns”.
“We may see some isolated catchments reach up to minor flood level again, but anything higher than that is extremely unlikely,” he said.
This was evidenced after a front passed through the region on Wednesday evening, and local residents reported some flooding on the Seaspray-Longford Rd near Carrs Creek, with water “over two foot deep”.
“At present, we’re not expecting any damaging winds or strong winds across the state, however we are expecting some thunderstorms about northern parts of the state tomorrow, and we might see some stormy or gusty conditions about northern Victoria near the New South Wales border,” Mr Laczko said.
“Apart from that, we’re not expecting any damaging winds in the forecast period.”
Earlier in the week, Yarram SES unit warned motorists to drive carefully as trees were still falling around the district, and said there was an increased risk of landslides because of the heavy rain.
To keep up with the latest warnings, visit bom.gov.au or emergency.vic.gov.au.
