Geelong records more than 40mm of rain in 12 hours

A Geelong suburb smashed by heavy rain required the second most call outs for assistance in Victoria overnight.

Heavy rain led to flash flooding on local roads on Monday. Picture: Mark Wilson

More than a month’s worth of rain fell across Geelong in the early hours of Tuesday morning, with one suburb requiring the second most call outs for assistance in Victoria.

A Spokesman from the State Emergency Service said Corio was one the state’s busiest units with 27 requests for help, as a 12-hour rain dump caused chaos at some homes.

As lightning delayed the Cats’ Easter Monday win over Hawthorn at the MCG, storms descended on Geelong, the Surf Coast and Bellarine.

The storm rolls into Geelong. Picture: Mark Wilson

Heavy rain, hail and thunderstorm lashed the region with many Easter campers also copping a drenching.

At 6am Tuesday, more than 40mm of rain was recorded in the previous 12 hours at Breakwater, while 44.4mm was recorded in Avalon.

“We had 70 calls for help across the Barwon Region up until midday on Tuesday,” the SES spokesman said.

These included 47 relating to building damage, with 10 of them due to flooding threats in Corio.

Most of the damage reported was leaking roofs, while some trees are alleged to have fallen on garages.

Pisces Big 4 Apollo Bay spokeswoman, Jenny Rippon, said they managed to cope despite the deluge.

“We are used to rain in Apollo Bay but there were no real issues with our campers, we also have a lot of under cover areas,” she said.

“There was no local flooding and no real drama.”

A spokeswoman from Barwon Heads caravan park said they had “no issues” despite the big rain.

“We had a bit of rain but we all survived,” she said.”

We were completely full over the Easter long weekend which was nice.”

The weather bureau has issued a severe warning for heavy rain and damaging winds to hit Geelong and the Surf Coast after 2pm on Monday. Picture: Mark Wilson

A spokesman from the Torquay Foreshore Caravan Park said they had escaped serious damage.

“We did a drive around the morning to check for any damage but we are in the clear,” he said.

“It’s obviously very wet and we did cop a bit.” We don’t seem to be that worse off than anywhere else so we are pretty lucky in that regard.”

Earlier, a severe weather warning was issued for parts of the state, including Geelong and the Surf Coast.

A strengthening cold front was moving across the southeast of the state, triggering thunderstorms and heavy rain.

Light showers are expected to linger on Tuesday with Geelong forecast to reach 20C.

Originally published as Geelong records more than 40mm of rain in 12 hours