Hospital staff sent to Vic flood areas
Two hundred hospital staff and 20 pharmacists will be sent to Victoria's flood-ravaged regions to fill gaps in the health system.
The $13.4 million in funding, announced on Thursday, will ensure the state's worst-affected public health units are supported for the next three months.
The state government also announced $6.5 million for health protection measures, including free Japanese encephalitis vaccines for people in flooded regions.
A dedicated system will also be set up to monitor and control disease-carrying mosquitoes.
Multicultural services will be given $500,000 to ensure important flood advice and recovery information is translated for culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
The relief measures come as towns along the Murray River remain on high alert for severe flooding.
Residents in the northern Victorian town of Kerang have been warned it is too late to leave, after Patchell Bridge on the Murray Valley Highway was closed on Wednesday night.
The town centre is expected to be protected by its flood levee but up to 50 properties could still be inundated, Tim Wiebusch from the State Emergency Service told reporters.
Evacuation warnings are still in place for Echuca and the smaller towns of Barmah, Lower Moira and Bunbartha, with swollen rivers threatening to burst their banks.
In Echuca, locals have spent days building a two-kilometre makeshift flood levee through the town to protect thousands of homes and businesses.
Eighteen volunteers from the Queensland State Emergency Service were deployed across Victoria on Thursday, providing more flood boats and swift-water rescue teams.
The SES has received more than 8000 requests for assistance since the flooding started a week ago, including almost 730 flood rescues.
On Thursday, the federal government confirmed up to 400 ADF personnel will assist with various tasks in Victoria, including sandbag distribution and doorknocking.
"We've already seen our ADF members hard at work filling sandbags in Shepparton, building levee banks in Echuca, and helping out in Wagga Wagga," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
"Now they will also be supporting more people as we move to the clean-up phase of this disaster."
Federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said the extra assistance would help some of the nation's hardest-hit communities.
An emergency warning was issued in Rochester on Thursday morning, alerting evacuated residents that it was not safe to return.
The same warning is in place for the small town of Murchison, about 35 kilometres south of Shepparton.
The Murray River is expected to peak on Friday, with concerns it could break the 1993 flood record and reach 95 metres.
Forecast isolated thunderstorms and rain, with falls of up to 30mm, are expected for parts of north central and northeast Victoria from Friday.
Authorities are urging residents to heed the warnings after a second person was found dead in floodwaters.
The 65-year-old man's body was found at Nathalia, near Shepparton on Wednesday morning.
His death follows that of a 71-year-old Rochester man on Saturday.
