Extensive flooding in eastern Victoria has forced kindergartens and a school to close as rising water continues to play havoc with roads and properties in the region.
The Tambo Upper Primary School and several kindergartens near Bairnsdale were closed on Friday due to flooding.
School buses across 68 routes between Sale and Bairnsdale have also been cancelled.
VicRoads has advised that the South Gippsland Highway will shut in both directions between Sale and Longford on Friday afternoon.
Motorists planning to use the highway at Sale will need to detour via Rosedale and are urged to avoid driving through floodwaters.
A State Emergency Service spokeswoman said crews were now focused on doorknocking high-risk residents in the rural centre of Sale as the Thomson, Macalister and Latrobe rivers from Bairnsdale converge.
Residents in low-lying areas of Bairnsdale were doorknocked on Thursday after rainfall of up to 137mm was recorded in the Mitchell River catchment, where a major flood warning remains in place.
No homes in Gippsland have yet been evacuated but residents from the Mitchell Gardens Caravan Park were moved on Thursday.
The Thomson River at Sale is forecast to peak at a moderate flood level by Saturday morning.
"At this stage we're not expecting any above-floor inundation but there is likely to be extensive rural inundation," the spokeswoman said.
No relief centre has been established in Sale at this stage, but a centre for any affected residents continues to operate in Mcleod Street at Bairnsdale on Friday.
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