Victorians are being urged to be extra vigilant ahead of the King’s Birthday long weekend as heavy rainfall triggers flood alerts in parts of the state.

Major flooding hit the King River in the state’s north-east early Thursday, with up to 140 millimetres of rain falling at Cheshunt.

Victoria State Emergency Service said staff were on the ground keeping residents up to date, but no evacuation orders had been issued.

An emergency alert had been issued for the region on Thursday morning, but it was downgraded to a watch and act by midday.

The alert followed flash flooding in western Victoria, with a watch and act issued at Halls Gap on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, the Bureau of Meteorology warned of a 70 per cent likelihood of a 2023 El Nino weather event, which is associated with drier conditions in eastern Australia.

Experts say the extreme weather could cause major flooding similar to levels recorded in parts of the state last year, which destroyed countless homes and businesses.

The mid-October floods that cut across Victoria, NSW, South Australia and Tasmania caused more than half a billion dollars in insurance losses, adding to the more than $5 billion lost to floods six months earlier in NSW and Queensland, according to the Insurance Council of Australia.

The council estimates the bill for Australian floods since 2020 is about $12 billion.

-AAP