A gum tree familiar to photographers and climbing children became a casualty of rising river levels at Albury's Noreuil Park.
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Increased Hume Dam releases since Friday, combined with weekend rain, led river banks to overflow and inundate roads around the park as well as the barbecue.
Tuesday's sunshine encouraged people out exercising to take a look, with many vehicles driving through water to get to the main car park.
Albury Council workers closed one road and put a warning sign near another.
The tree, which formerly branched out at an angle over the Murray, lay uprooted in the swollen river.
River Deck Cafe owner Alex Smit said it had still been standing when he left work Monday but was in the water on his arrival yesterday morning.
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Mr Smit expected water releases would continue to affect the site until the end of October.
"It is what it is, we can't control it," he said.
The owner said he "wouldn't be surprised" if his cafe again became cut off.
"Unfortunately that's part and parcel of being in the spot we're in," he said.
"You've got to take the good with the bad; there's a lot of good and only a little bit of bad usually."
Albury's Karl Tymkiw said he was "horrified" to see the fallen gum while out walking.
"I've taken so many photos of that tree," he said.
"It's just sad, it's such an iconic tree, to see a beautiful tree like that just fall into the river."
Hume Dam is effectively full, with Murray-Darling Basin Authority releasing 31 gigalitres of water a day to manage airspace.
Acting chief executive Andrew Reynolds said releases could change in response to future rain.
"We're actively managing Hume Dam and our river operators are working around the clock to assess new inflow and weather information and manage releases," he said.
"When the storage is near full, large flood inflows must be passed downstream as they arrive.
"There is now a high chance of significant flooding downstream of Hume Dam if further heavy rainfall events occur.
"Our priority is keeping the dam safe, capturing and storing water, and where we can, mitigating floods."
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