Mornington Peninsula hit with flash flooding as wild weather hammers Victoria

SES chief Tim Wiebusch has warned the state’s flood emergency is “far from over” as Mornington Peninsula homes are destroyed by flash flooding.

A Mornington Pensinula home has been destroyed by flash flooding as wild weather continues to wreck havoc across the state.

Victoria was soaked by heavy rain overnight, sparking more than 600 calls for help from the State Emergency Service including 300 calls on the Mornington Peninsula.

SES chief Tim Wiebusch said Mount Martha, Mornington and Hastings were worst hit by the “storm cell”.

“This flood emergency is still far from over and we currently have got 85 warnings that are live in Victoria,” he said.

“SES volunteers and emergency services are still in the area, accessing those impacts and still responding to 80 requests for assistance.

“We do know that there are seven homes in the Blairgowrie area that have been flooded above the floor level and will have families relocated from them.”

The area was lashed with 40mm to 50mm of rain, in just a couple of hours.

Floodwater downstairs at Kathryn’s home. Picture: Supplied

Man canoeing in Safety Beach floodwaters. Picture: Paul Dowsley

Mount Martha mum Kathryn told the Herald Sun her family discovered about 7cm of water on the bottom level of their two-storey home about 6.20am on Monday.

“I heard a little bit of rain but I slept through it all,” she said.

“It wasn’t until we let the dog out this morning that we realised how bad it was.

“I didn’t expect it to be so torrential.”

Kathryn said her children’s bedrooms were “completely destroyed” including her son’s year 12 study notes and school laptop.

“The carpet is sopping wet, everything is wrecked, it’s all ruined,” she said.

“It’s not a good situation.”

Kathryn said she blames the damage on the Mornington Peninsula Shire.

“We’ve been onto the council for a long time to improve the drainage and get the road sealed so water doesn’t come down our driveway,” she said.

“But overnight water gushed down into our house because nothing had been done.

“It’s just not good enough.”

Floodwater towards the top of Arthur's Seat Rd, Mornington Peninsula. Picture: Adam Richmond.

Mr Wiebusch said some drains became “overwhelmed” with the flash flooding.

“When we see these flash flood events, our storm water systems become quite quickly overwhelmed and we do see back surge occuring,” he said.

“While the heavy rainfall is going in the storm water system in one location, it can come out in another location where it’s finding that lower point.

“So some of the flash flooding that we have seen in the past 24 hours would have been as a result of that phenomena occurring.”

According to Hastings SES requests for assistance were coming “every few seconds” and most were from Mornington and Mount Martha.

A man was also spotted canoeing in floodwaters around Safety Beach, checking up on his neighbours.

It comes as Mount Hotham recorded the state’s highest dump of 77.6mm.

Across Melbourne, Point Cook received 38.4mm, Laverton 32mm, Frankton 21.8mm while the CBD had 13.4mm.

Altona-bound lanes have been closed on the Western Ring Rd near the Deer Park Bypass on-ramp while multiple sets of traffic lights are not working on the Nepean Highway near Mount Martha.

Social media footage shows flooding at Cunninghams and Duncans roads at Werribee South.

The Hume Freeway has been closed northbound between Benalla and Chiltern due to flooding with detours in place.

The Murray Valley Highway is closed between the Hume Freeway and Rutherglen.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Jackson Browne said the heavy rain system was slowly moving away from the state.

“On its western flank it’s going to start to bring up quite a lot of colder air so we will see the storms and rain segue back into more showers and that may carry the possibility of some small hail especially if you are in some coastally-exposed areas,” Mr Browne told ABC radio.

Originally published as Mornington Peninsula hit with flash flooding as wild weather hammers Victoria