By Rachael Ward in Melbourne

A man has risked his own life to help rescue a 74-year-old woman from floodwaters in central Victoria and been praised by police as a good Samaritan.

It was one of more than two dozen rescues in a 24-hour period as the state’s flood emergency intensified, with thousands of people currently under evacuation orders.

Mitch Smith spotted the woman in Bendigo Creek at Elmore and swam out to help after her car was swept off a road and washed about 100 metres downsteam in raging waters on Monday night.

He used a ratchet strap to secure her to a tree and the pair waited for about an hour before emergency crews arrived and deployed a boat to rescue them. Neither was injured.

“The water was probably nine foot, 10 foot deep,” Mr Smith told ABC TV.

“She was pretty exhausted, she said her arms were getting super tired and they wouldn’t be able to hang on for much longer.”

Despite his efforts and praise from police that he was a good Samaritan who risked his life, Mr Smith insists he’s not a hero.

“If it was my grandmother in the water I hope someone else would have done the same thing, yeah it was a very lucky situation,” he said.

Major flood warnings are current for the Campaspe and Goulburn rivers, with any residents left in Seymour, Yea and Rochester told it’s now too late to leave following evacuation warnings.

Up to 35 homes are expected to be flooded at Rochester on Tuesday, with the town still recovering from devastating flooding that impacted about 1000 homes in October 2022.

Rochester Riverside Holiday Park manager Steve Matter and his wife chose to stay at the park and could see a couple of permanent caravans were flooded by Tuesday morning.

He said there was water on the road out of town and locals were deeply impacted by the emergency.

“People are very worried I suppose because they had a flood 15 months ago and now there’s another flood coming,” Mr Matter told AAP.

“People are devastated not knowing how high the water is going to get.”

More than a dozen flood warnings have been issued across the state and the wild weather has also impacted Melbourne’s east, with Mount Dandenong Tourist Road at Ferny Creek closed after a landslide about 40 metres wide and 70 metres long.

The SES has received more than 1700 calls for help since Sunday, with more than 800 related to flooding and 400 for fallen trees.

More than 26 flood rescues were performed in the 24 hours to 7am on Tuesday, with authorities warning motorists to avoid travelling on wet roads and never attempt to drive through flood waters.

The emergency is expected to shift towards Murchison and Shepparton on Wednesday before heading to Echuca.

Murchison post office worker Kirsten Parr said she and other locals were worried roads would be inundated and the town cut off for several days, which happened in the 2022 floods.

“The last time it happened we lost power for four days so that wasn’t very much fun,” Ms Parr said.

“A lot of the houses that did get flooded have just started rebuilding again, and now it’s about to happen again.”

Victoria SES spokesman Jamie Devenish warned people to be aware of the dangers of ‘blue sky flooding’ as waters continue rising despite fine conditions.

“It might look like a really nice day but that water’s got to go somewhere now and it will push down the catchments and we are expecting to see moderate to major flooding in a number of those communities in northern Victoria over the coming days,” Mr Devenish said.

Some Riverine areas are popular for holiday-makers at this time of year and he warned campers in low-lying areas may need to prepare to relocate soon.