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Thousands of people across Australia鈥檚 southeast were asked to evacuate their homes on Friday, including some in Melbourne鈥檚 west, after two days of incessant rains triggered flash flooding and fast-moving waters burst river banks.

Large parts of Victoria state, southern New South Wales, and the northern regions of the island state of Tasmania were pounded by an intense weather system with some taking more than a month鈥檚 worth of rain since late Wednesday, officials said.

鈥淸This] has led to widespread, major flooding ... with some rivers experiencing record flooding and this is only going to continue to move downstream and get worse,鈥� Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Dean Narramore told ABC television.

Footage on social media showed people wading through knee-deep water with their pets and some being rescued in boats.

Many rivers in Victoria, including the Maribyrnong in Melbourne鈥檚 west and the Goulburn further north, reached major flood levels, prompting the nighttime evacuation of residents.

The Goulburn River at Seymour, about 100 km (62 miles) north of Melbourne, has peaked above the record 7.64 meters (25 ft) reached in May 1974, data showed.

鈥淚t鈥檚 far from over, we鈥檒l see waters rise,鈥� Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews told the ABC. 鈥淲e鈥檒l see more and more waters continuing to rise, more and more houses being inundated, more and more communities being closed off.鈥�

Most of the state was experiencing a 鈥渧ery, very, significant rainfall event and it comes, of course, with the ground completely sodden,鈥� Mr. Andrews said.

鈥淭he real challenge now is we鈥檝e got another rain event next week and the Bureau [of Meteorology] forecasting more rain throughout the next six-to-eight week period and it won鈥檛 take a lot of additional water for there to be further flood events,鈥� Mr. Andrews added. 鈥淪o this has only just started and it鈥檚 going to be with us for a while.鈥�

Mr. Andrews said 4,700 homes were without power, more than the 3,500 that Victoria State Emergency Service had reported earlier on Friday.

The Bureau of Meteorology said major-to-record flooding was occurring or was forecast to occur on many rivers in Victoria and the island state of Tasmania to the south.

In Tasmania, the flooding crisis intensified after more evacuation orders overnight, while hundreds of residents in southern New South Wales spent the night in evacuation centers.

Though heavy rains are expected to ease from late Friday, flooding could continue through the weekend, officials said.

Devastating floods have repeatedly struck Australia鈥檚 east coast since early last year because of a multi-year La Ni帽a聽weather phenomenon, which brings more rain.

The bureau forecast that the La Ni帽a event may peak during the current Southern Hemisphere spring and return to neutral conditions early next year.

La Ni帽a is the cooler flip side of the better-known drying El Ni帽o pattern. La Ni帽a occurs when equatorial trade winds become stronger, changing ocean surface currents and drawing up cooler deep water.

It is the third La Ni帽a since 2019 became Australia鈥檚 hottest and driest year on record.

That year came to a catastrophic conclusion with wildfires fueled by drought that directly or indirectly killed more than 400 people, destroyed more than 3,000 homes, and razed 19 million hectares (47 million acres) of woods, farmland, and city fringes.

Sydney, New South Wales鈥� capital and Australia鈥檚 largest city, last week beat its 1950 record to make 2022 its wettest-ever year.

This story was reported by Reuters. Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.