Initial $165 million government road repair bill likely to go higher

The government has announced what it calls an emergency road repair blitz, to find and fix potholes and repair road surfaces, damaged by flooding.

"It's about making sure those urgent repairs are directly related to the floods," Mr Andrews said.

"This $165m additional funding is urgent, it's there now, teams are doing that work so we can get more and more roads open, freight, fodder, emergency services or local residents to where they need to be."

He acknowledged the government would have to spend more on repairs, beyond the initial $165m.

With further rain forecast, there was potential for more damage, he said.

"They are kind of temporary repairs, crews will have to come back and do more substantive repairs," Mr Andrews said.

"It's a trade-off between what we can get done now and roads that need to be open for the purposes of safety, providing relief, providing support and freight - it's a bit of a balancing act.

"It's a rolling flood event, so we are going to see more and rainfall, so that presents a unique challenge, as well."

He said the $165m was on top of the $800 million provided in the May state budget.

"There will need to be more funding beyond that, this is initial funding that will underpin those emergency repairs," he said.

Mr Andrews said a number of the Big Build contractors had provided additional crews, to help with the repairs.

Crews had found, and fixed, 10,000 potholes, he said.

The flooding would have an impact on agriculture.

"There will be big impacts when it comes to this - this is the food bowl of our state, the food bowl of our nation, whether it be fruit and veg, cropping or dairy, beef and sheep," he said.

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Department of Transport regional transport chief Paul Northey said more than 500 roads had been closed, during the last week, with about 150 now re-opened.

"As floodwaters subside and emergency services have declared our roads are safe, our crews are moving in to inspect every kilometre of the network and deliver emergency repairs where they're needed most," Mr Northey said.

"Everyone has seen the confronting images showing what flood waters have done to our roads - we will need to undertake much more than emergency repairs in some areas.

"There is no set timeframe for when each road will be reopened, but we want to assure the community that we are moving as quickly as we can."

A DoT spokesman said crews were already completing significant emergency repair works in some areas, repairing damage to the road surface, rebuilding areas where there had been landslips, clearing drains and culverts, reinstalling signs and guideposts, redoing line markings and cat's eyes to make it safe to drive at night.

Departmental staff were seeing seeing dangerous hazards, including what could be deadly debris and pavement that had been destroyed.

A spokesman said flood waters could damage not only road surfaces but major structures like bridges and safety barriers and smaller structures like culverts, signs, guideposts, and drainage.

Along with repairing our roads, expert structural engineers wouldl also assess bridges for stability and safety.

In some cases divers would be required to check what was happening underneath the water.

Geotechnical engineers would assess areas hit by landslips and assist with developing plans for longer-term repairs.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano said impacts were still being assessed.

"It's impossible to fully understand the impact on food availability and prices, at this early state," Ms Germano said.

"What we do know is there will be significant impact and disruption coming through our supply chain in the coming months.

"Floodwaters have significantly impacted many parts of the agriculture industry."