Thousands of residents were ordered to evacuate the Murray River town of Echuca on Friday afternoon, as the flooded river rose further.

It came amid concerns for possible flash flooding across Victoria in coming days, and as the NSW SES raised concerns about flash flooding in the town of Moree – after severe storms dumped more than 100 millimetres there in just a few hours.

“We currently do have some issues in Moree … regarding some severe storms that impacted them overnight and early this morning,” NSW SES Chief Superintendent Ken Murphy told ABC News.

“Rainfall totals in excess of 100 millimetres have caused a lot of flash flooding in those areas there. They have caused us to do some evacuations and have done a number of flood rescues in those areas.”

The weather bureau issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the area on Friday afternoon. Damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rain were all possible, as it warned the focus of the immediate weather crisis was about to shift.

“A developing area of focus will be south-east Queensland and north-east NSW, with a surface trough and possible low-pressure system developing off the coast this weekend,” the Bureau of Meteorology said.

“These systems may produce heavy rain on Saturday and into Sunday and could impact highly populated areas including the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, the Gold Coast in Queensland, and the Northern Rivers in NSW, including Lismore and Byron Bay.

“Exact rainfall amounts will depend on where this trough forms and how it moves and in particular whether the low-pressure system develops near the coast, or further offshore. Heavy rain may bring both a flash flooding and riverine flooding risk.”

Tweet from @stephcookemp

Western Sydney residents were warned to expect minor flooding to begin on the rising Hawkesbury-Nepean rivers on Friday.

Residents in several suburbs, including Windsor, Penrith, and North Richmond, have been told to monitor the conditions.

“On Saturday, rain and storms will continue for south-east and central Queensland, eastern NSW, eastern Victoria and eastern Tasmania, heavy falls possible with storms. Heavy falls are possible across south-east Queensland and north-east NSW, depending on the development of a low-pressure system,” BOM said.

“Also on Saturday, a trough will approach from the west, causing showers to increase across South Australia from Saturday morning, and western NSW and western Victoria later in the day.

“This trough will continue to generate widespread showers and storms across south-east Australia into next week, driven by another low-pressure system developing over NSW.

“There will be some brief reprieve from rain towards the middle of next week. However, flooding impacts will be ongoing.”

Emergency services were also continuing their efforts in Moama on Friday. The sister town to Victoria’s Echuca has been the focus of the most serious flood threat in recent days.

Tweet from @vicemergency

Hundreds of people have been ordered to evacuate Moama and surrounds this week.

“We are very much on high alert,” NSW Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said.

“Communities have been battered over and over again by natural disasters, particularly since the 2019/20 bushfire season.”

The Murray River passed major flood levels late on Wednesday night and by Friday was within 20 centimetres of the 94.77-metre height of a 1993 flood, the area’s second-worst on record.

Victorian emergency services issued an evacuation warning for Echuca about midday Friday, with a reprieve before worsening weather and an expected river peak.

The peak in Echuca there has been delayed, but concerns remain high for the Murray and the Campaspe rivers, particularly with further rain expected in the area from Friday.

Friday’s warning extended downriver to Swan Hill, where flooding is expected in about a week.

Tweet from @AndrewUphill

The Bureau of Meteorology expects the Murray to reach about 95 metres next week, still below the 96.2-metre height of its worst flood in 1870.

SES chief operations officer Tim Wiebusch said towns along the river had another chance to evacuate before that happened.

However, it was too late to leave the smaller towns of Barmah and Lower Moira, he told ABC TV on Friday.

Isolated thunderstorms could deliver up to 30 millimetres of rain for already drenched parts of northern Victoria on Friday.

Residents in Echuca who have not already evacuated have been told to limit water use, including showers and washing machines, to reduce the amount of water sent to sewers while flood levels are high.

Authorities there have spent days building a makeshift flood levee more than two kilometres long through the town.

Eighteen volunteers from the Queensland SES have been deployed across Victoria, while up to 400 ADF personnel are also helping with sandbag distribution and door-knocking.

-with AAP