THE Murray River at Swan Hill is expected to reach the major flood level of 4.7 metres on Friday.

Swan Hill deputy incident controller Mick Sporton said the river was sitting just below the major flood level on Monday afternoon and levels were expected to increase through the week.

“It is a very slow-moving, high river with pressures coming in from the Avoca and the Loddon rivers, and also further downstream coming in from the Edwards and the Murrumbidgee rivers as well,” Mr Sporton told The Guardian.

He said the extra water was slowing that drainage rate of the high river levels around Swan Hill.

While the township of Swan Hill is expected to remain high and dry, lower-lying areas such as Pental Island and the Tyntynder flats may have some pressure on their levee banks, but Mr Sporton said these were continuing to hold.

“We are just continuing to monitor those and also make any repairs and remediation of any levee banks if they need top-dressing or sandbagging or any works that need to be done just to maintain those levees,” Mr Sporton said.

“We are continuing to do that on a daily basis.”

The Little Murray River is also expected to peak around the same time as the Murray, with levees along there also been closely monitored by emergency services.

Mr Sporton praised the local flood wardens for helping the effort.

“A big pat on the back to all of our volunteers out there, particularly our volunteer flood wardens who come from those areas along the river – they are providing some sensational information and intel into the control centre here,” he said.

“We need to get great intel from them so we can make some good decisions.”

Mr Sporton said situational awareness and having a plan in case of a disaster was important as the river continues to rise.

“Be vigilant, keep an eye on your levee banks, keep an eye on the river conditions, listen and tune into your media on the radio or the VicEmergency app, and just stay updated.”