Four states staring down the barrel of another floods crisis

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Four states are in the firing line of another floods crisis as a dangerous weather system threatens to spill, isolating communities yet again.

In the last 24 hours, two men have been confirmed dead in floodwaters in Victoria and New South Wales. It comes after a 71-year-old man's body was found in floodwater in Victoria on Saturday.

More than half of Queensland is under a thunderstorm warning with the Bureau of Meteorology saying damaging winds, large hail and heavy rain is possible for eastern inland Queensland, stretching to the coast from Bowen to Shoalwater Bay.

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https://twitter.com/BOM_Qld/status/1582641023255285760

Residents are advised to keep across the Bureau's warnings as the system bears down. NSW can be viewed here, Victoria here, and Queensland here. 

Emerald, a town in the Central Highlands Region of Queensland, recorded 145 mm of rainfall yesterday, marking their wettest October day on record.

A woman had to be rescued from the Mackenzie River, near the township, after her vehicle was submerged in floodwaters.

She was reportedly clinging to her ute for 90 minutes but is now recovering.

"The system is absolutely massive and it is starting to track towards the coastline," 9News reporter Mia Glover said.

"Tomorrow we'll likely to see the worst of the storms here in the south-east and over the weekend.

"Seqwater is pretty concerned about this system, so much so it started to release water from Wivenhoe Dam."

A thunderstorm warning is also in effect for a broad swathe of central western NSW, with hail and damaging winds possible there.

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https://twitter.com/BOM_NSW/status/1582603888624115712

The wet weather is being fuelled by a slow-moving low that's drawn on "vast amount of tropical moisture" after sitting over the countries centre, Weatherzone said.

The weather service has branding the system "highly unusual".

"Parts of outback South Australia which are usually extremely dry have received record October rainfall," it said.

"A cut-off low passing over SA caused persistent rain and thunderstorms during the last 24-36 hours, with falls even exceeding some of last week's readings in flood-affected parts of Victoria."

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A slow-moving low has dropped record rainfall over South Australia's outback.

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In Woomera 74.4 mm fell in just 24 hours, making it the wettest October day on record. The October monthly average in the outback community is just 15.3 mm

Record flooding is also unfolding across Victoria, with some rivers in the state's north currently experiencing their biggest flood event in decades.

As of 6am there are 49 flood warnings in effect across Victoria. Evacuation orders are current for Barmah, Barmah East, lower Moira, Echuca and Echuca Village.

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Flooded streets and homes are seen during the floods in Shepparton, Victoria on October 18, 2022.Bodi Fitzsimmons kayaking down the street during the floods in Shepparton, Victoria.

Residents in the Victorian town of Echuca are divided with the hopes of the town resting on a makeshift levee that's split the community in two.

"It is such an anxious wait for these residents. This is a creeping flood," Today reporter Izabella Staskowski said.

"They can see it coming up to their homes, some residents tell me they have seen the Murray River coming up for days and at this point they just want it to hit.

"That's how anxious they are at this moment."

The Murray River is now at major flood level and is still rising. It's expected to peak at 95 metres tomorrow.

Satellite imagery reveals the extent of flooding along the Goulburn River as it inundated Shepparton.

Satellite images showing the Goulburn River at Shepparton reveals how much the river spilled over the past two weeks. This image was taken October 2, 2022. This is where the mighty Goulburn sits more than two weeks later. Residents are facing a nervous wait as more record rain bears down, threatening to isolate thousands of homes.

Aerial vision has captured the extent of Murray River flooding occurring at Moama, in southern NSW.

"On Sunday night, the Goulburn River reached a peak height of 12.06 metres at Shepparton, well above its major flood level of 11.0 metres and around the same height as the 1974 flood peak of 12.09 metres," Weatherzone said.

"Bendigo's 117 mm of rain during the 48 hours ending at 9am on Friday, October 14, was its highest two-day total on record, with data available back to 1863."

NSW border communities are also frantically sandbagging and building levels as the river threatens to spill.

NSW SES has issued 66 flood warnings across the state.

Of these, eight are at emergency level.

Source: 9News