Man dies in Victorian town of Rochester and Shepparton told to evacuate – as it happened

More than 500 Victorian homes damaged and 500 others cut off in flooding. This blog is now closed

• Victoria floods: man found dead in Rochester backyard as Shepparton and Echuca told to evacuate
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Jonathan How from the Bureau of Meteorology has spoken to ABC News about the severe weather, saying the heavy rain has cleared in southern Victoria and Tasmania.

Overnight we did see rainfall totals of 5-15 millimetres across parts of southern Victoria and Tasmania, but the good news is that the heavy rain has cleared but we are seeing ongoing flooding for New South Wales and Victoria.

First in Melbourne, flood warnings out for the Maribyrnong and Werribee rivers. Keep following the advice of local police and SES, but at tension is very much through the northern and inland parts of Victoria.

The north and the north-west of Tasmania had the highest level of rainfall. Record-breaking rainfall over the previous few days. That rainfall accumulated at altitude and made its way down the landscape into the riverine.

The last flooding of significance was in 2016, but the rainfall in 2022 we've experienced has exceeded a lot of those values and has been far-reaching by comparison to that previous event.