Vic school evacuated over levee fears

A school in northern Victoria was evacuated amid concerns about the integrity of a nearby flood levee.

Emergency Victoria strongly advised people in and near the Koondrook Primary School to evacuate due to floodwaters encroaching towards the top of the levee and the school's location on an effective riverside peninsula.

"There's a danger that if the levee is breached, water could isolate the school to become an island and then it might be hard to get people off there," a Victorian State Emergency Service spokesman told AAP.

The warning triggered a response from the state education department to officially close the school and parents were contacted to collect their children.

There was no immediate threat to the broader area.

There are more than 50 flood hazard warnings active across Victoria and more than 460 roads remain closed.

Major warnings remain in place at Echuca, Lower Moira, Barmah and the Murray downstream of Tocumwal to Barham.

Authorities have warned it is too early for evacuated residents to return to Echuca.

Emergency service volunteers have been undertaking preventative sandbagging and doorknocking around the Murray at Albury and Corowa, where inflows from the Kiewa River combined with increased outflows from Hume Dam are causing moderate flooding.

The SES spokesman said generally the situation was abating, although floodwaters were moving downstream and a surge was expected in Swan Hill on Monday.

Major flooding is expected at Wakool Junction and Boundary Bend in northwestern Victoria on the weekend and early next week, as breakout flows from Torrumbarry Weir spill into the Wakool River to combine with flows from the Murray and Edward Rivers. 

Major flooding in excess of 1975 levels is expected downstream at Mildura in early December.

Conditions have eased in Rochester, where at least 900 people have been displaced and many more are assessing damage to homes after sandbagging efforts were overwhelmed by floodwaters in October.

In nearby Shepparton, a community recovery hub has been set up at the senior citizens centre to aid and inform flood-affected residents.

Help with food, health, insurance and accessing financial assistance is available, along with interpreters in Arabic, Dari, Punjabi, Hindi, Turkish and Swahili.

Emergency Victoria has warned residents in flood-affected areas are at risk of mosquito-borne diseases, water-borne diseases and mould-related illness.

The Victorian State Emergency Service, Environment Protection Agency and Natural Hazards Research Australia are testing floodwaters across the state to determine any risks to human health and the environment.

They will test the water each week for bacteria, metalloids and other contaminants, with the resulting data to be shared nationally.

SES chief operations officer Tim Wiebusch said people should always assume floodwaters were contaminated.

"We continue to emphasise to never walk, drive, or play in floodwaters," Mr Wiebusch said in a statement.

"We see working together with EPA and NHRSC as part of this critical research being vital to understand the long-term effects floodwater may have on our volunteers, other emergency management personnel and of course the community."