SWAN Hill Council has begun preparing for the river to rise along the Murray River, sandbagging key assets from Swan Hill to Robinvale.

It comes as more than 3600 people living in Kerang, where the township is protected by a levee bank, were warned to evacuate as a flood peak came down the Loddon River on Wednesday afternoon.

The town was expected to be cut off from Swan Hill once the Patchell Bridge on the Murray Valley Highway closed at 7pm, however exits remained in place to Murrabit and Cohuna.

Rural properties south of Kerang that aren't protected from a levee bank were inundated by Thursday afternoon, with more than 50 properties expected to go under. It's unclear how many homes could have water above the floor.

Gannawarra Shire Mayor Charlie Gillingham was confident the community could manage the water.

"I think the prolific growth that has sprung up can hold up the water and it won't reach the bridge in Kerang until later in the week," he said.

Member for Mallee Anne Webster toured the Gannawarra with the mayor earlier in the week to assess the situation.

"My thoughts are with those in Kerang and surrounds affected by the floods," she said.

"I have fought for Gannawarra Shire to be included on the list for federal funding assistance.

"Federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt’s office has now informed me the shire will become eligible for federal funding today."

Swan Hill Council chief executive Scott Barber said it wanted to "chip in" as a neighbouring council that could feel the impacts next week when the floodwater from the Campaspe and Goulburn rivers entered the Murray River at Echuca and hit Swan Hill.

The river at Swan Hill may exceed the minor flood level (4.50 metres) over the weekend. Depending on the observed peak level at Echuca, the river level may reach the major flood level (4.7m) about the end of the month or early November.

This is similar to the October 1993 flood event.

"We have been talking to the acting CEO in Gannawarra, Geoff Rollinson, every day. They are feeling the pressure and want to look after the community and we have the facilities to be able to do so," Mr Barber said.

"We would hope anyone else would do that for anyone's neighbour. We believe in that philosophy and glad we can help."

Mr Barber said it was a "fair comment" when it was suggested that councils had learnt a lot of lessons from the flood in 2011 that could be applied while the knowledge and memories remained.

"As a council, we have looked at our own levee bank structures, looked at own facilities, checked our pumps. We know what to look for from previous flood events," he said.

"Having said that, you can never be too prepared, and we are fortunate in Swan Hill that we are a number of days downstream from where the water is entering the system so we can look upstream, attend daily meetings with other councils affected and listen to what they are wrestling with and check our own checklists."

Mr Barber said it could be 10 days before peak floodwaters reached Swan Hill.

"We have been talking to state agencies about what's coming down the Murray, but also what's coming out of the Avoca, Loddon and then upstream with the Campaspe and Goulburn," he said.

"It's about how these things come together – there is also the mid-Murray water storages, Kow Swamp, Lake Boga – how they all go together and what will end up in the river."

Swan Hill Council this week flushed out stormwater pits in anticipation of more rain later this week.

Bureau of Meteorology spokesman Kevin Parkyn said upcoming weather didn’t appear to be as severe as last week, with widespread heavy falls predicted for Sunday now “off the table”.

“The expected rainfall over the coming days isn’t expected to be anywhere near as widespread or as intense or as heavy,” he said.

But forecasters remain concerned about widespread shower activity on Friday and Saturday that’s set to produce rainfall totals of between 2mm and 10mm.

“It doesn’t sound like a lot but it could cause some local river rises across the northern plains,” Mr Parkyn said.

Kerang could record up to 45mm of rain between now and Sunday.