The twin cities of Albury and Wodonga are days away from reaching or exceeding major flood levels.

The Murray-Darling Basin Authority has increased its daily water release from the Hume Dam on the New South Wales-Victoria border to 75 gigalitres, up from 50GL.

It expects the Murray River at Albury to reach or exceed the major flood level for the first time since 2016 in the coming days.

“River operators continue to work around the clock to assess new inflow and weather information and manage releases accordingly,” a spokesman for the authority said in a statement on Tuesday.

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Border cities Albury and Wodonga are home to about 100,000 residents, with a regional catchment population of about 180,000.

Although conditions are temporarily easing, more than 90 emergency warnings are current across Victoria.

Evacuation warnings are in place at Echuca on the Murray River, where SES chief operations officer Tim Wiebusch said major flooding was expected to continue until at least Sunday.

The Murray River is expected to reach the major flood level later this week at Swan Hill where volunteers, authorities and local community groups are undertaking a major sandbagging and doorknocking effort.

“The main town centre of Swan Hill is not at risk,” Mr Wiebusch said.

“It’s those areas immediately in and around the Murray River that are at risk of major flooding later this week.”

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South-east of Swan Hill, levees have breached at Benjeroop and Murrabit West, affecting farmland there and north and west of Kerang.

Mr Wiebusch said already sodden conditions meant relatively small amounts of rain could result in higher moderate or major flood levels.

“We’re likely to see moderate flooding at Jingellic overnight tonight and that will flow through to Albury Wodonga and also down to Yarrawonga and Tocumwal in the coming days,” he said on Tuesday.

“And that’s all as a result of rainfall in NSW in the last 24 to 48 hours.”

A gastroenteritis alert has also been issued for residents in border towns along the river due to contaminated stagnant floodwater.

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Victoria’s State Emergency Service has been inundated with calls during the state’s flood crisis.

Mr Wiebusch said the outfit responded to almost 13,700 calls for help in October, eclipsing the June 2021 record of 10,740 calls.

“October was the busiest month on record for Vic SES volunteers … off the back of what is now regarded as Victoria’s wettest month on record,” he told reporters at Melbourne’s State Control Centre.

The flood emergency was far from over with above-average rainfall expected for at least another six to eight weeks, Mr Wiebusch said.

Businesses, farmers and not-for-profits reeling from Victoria’s floods will be eligible for almost $900 million in state and federal relief.

Grants of up to $50,000 will be available for groups to support recovery efforts, including rebuilding and replacing damaged infrastructure and assets.

More than $22 million has been made available for the development of recovery plans, provide mental health support and assist in grant applications, Premier Daniel Andrews said.

“We’re making sure flood-affected business owners and communities have the support they need to rebuild and return to trade as quickly and safely as possible,” he said on Tuesday.

Recovery grants of up to $200,000 will also be available for medium and large businesses directly impacted.

Primary producers can apply for grants of up to $75,000 through a recovery support package complementing the existing Primary Producer Concessional Loan Program announced last week.

Flood-affected sport and recreational clubs will be eligible for a $5000 recovery grant.

-AAP