Bushfires influencing Gippsland floods

Bushfires that ravaged Victoria last summer are exacerbating the flood conditions now threatening homes in the state's east.

More than 1,000 bushfires menaced Victorian communities over a harrowing 69 days during summer, including in East Gippsland.

Almost 1.2 million hectares of land was blackened, with communities in the state's north and east hardest hit.

State Emergency Service spokesman John O'Brien said the deluge falling in East Gippsland was running off the ground and into creeks.

Mr O'Brien said the flood waters would also drag timber debris into the river systems and onto paddocks, damaging fencing which would have to be repaired.

"It's a drought breaker, but it will bring a lot of problems to us in the next few days," he said.

Despite the impact of the bushfires this year, East Gippsland has faced floods in the past.

In 1998, the Victorian government declared a state of emergency as some of the worst flooding in the region's history inundated farms and towns, leaving a damage bill estimated at $45 million.

In 2001, flood waters in Gippsland caused the Tarwin River to burst its banks, isolating several hundred people in the fishing community of Tarwin Lower.

A moderate flood warning was issued for the Mitchell River in Bairnsdale in April 2004, when more than 130mm of rain fell in one day.