Melbourne weather: Rain, flash flooding hits Lilydale
Lilydale has been smashed with rain, with flooding forcing drivers to swim to safety — but angry business owners say it was “totally foreseeable”.
Outer East
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Victoria looks likely to experience its wettest October on record.
Thunderstorms continue to sweep across the state on Wednesday after causing flash flooding in areas around Lilydale
The downpour on Tuesday pushed Victoria to the second wettest on record so far with more to come.
The Bureau of Meterology’s Michael Efron said the slow moving but severe thunderstorms would speed up as they moved across central and eastern parts of the state.
The “really intense rainfall” around Lilydale delivered 70mm – with 40mm falling in just 30 minutes.
The deluge hit at about 4.30pm and sent cars floating down highways, with many submerged drivers being caught off guard and forced to swim to safety.
At one stage, rain was coming down at a speed of 120mm per hour.
Footage emerged online of a bus attempting to drive through a mini lake on the road – despite the passengers pleading with him not to – and becoming submerged, leaving the passengers with no choice but to evacuate and wade away from the trapped vehicle.
The SES’s Tim Wiebusch said a concerning number of calls had come through during Tuesday’s 70 millimetre downpour in the outer eastern suburbs as residents attempted to drive through flood waters.
Over 400 requests for assistance were sounded within a 90 minute period on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, yet again, we saw people attempting to drive through floodwaters. Twenty-five rescues had to be undertaken in the eastern suburbs yesterday that could have been avoidable,” he said.
Alex, owner of the Yarra Valley Smokery, said his shop had been totally destroyed.
“The water has run through all the way to the back of the shop and we’ve already lost a couple of freezers,” he said.
“It was disastrous to come here in the morning and see everything ruined.”
Alex said he anticipated the clean-up would take a day and a half at minimum, considering himself luckier than many businesses who were inundated.
“Any support available from the council or state government would be welcome, but I know I’m not the only one and it’s a hard time for everyone.”
Barry Plant Lilydale was completely swamped in the rain.
Marketing manager Nicci said the damage from the flash flooding was “devastating”.
“A lot of the shops along the strip here have been hit, it’s going to take weeks to clean up,” she said.
She said when Lilydale Station was renovated there was wide community concern for appropriate drainage being installed.
Owner of the Lilydale laundrette Brian Hamilton said he was “pissed off” and “furious” because the flooding was “totally foreseeable”.
“John St nearby always floods, but when they built the station it was all concrete — so there’s nowhere for the water to go,” Mr Hamilton said.
“When they built this, they should have known better because they know that the water comes from up on the hill.
“The station was terribly designed, terribly thought through and Dan Andrews is at the top.
“He’s got to take a kick for this because he pays top dollars for these projects to be done too quickly, but everyone suffers for it.”
Level Crossing Removal Project chief executive Kevin Devlin said the design of the level crossing removal and new station at Lilydale took into account the flood plain and hydrology of the area.
“The design was developed in consultation with Melbourne Water,” Mr Devlin said.
“As we do for any recently completed project, we’ll continue to review the drainage system following rainfall events such as the one yesterday.
“We will make changes if required.”
Further down Main St, manager of Smoothline Dry Cleaners Rachelle Sankey said the shop was no stranger to some mild flooding in the back, but on Tuesday she was wading through thigh-high water to get inside.
“We were completely helpless, there was nothing we could do,” she said.
“The water has gotten into all the motors of the machines so I have to get those checked out – but all our garments are OK, thank goodness.
“Whatever’s ruined, we can fix it — that’s what we do as dry cleaners.
“But it’s going to be very time consuming.”
Ms Sankey said the help from the neighbouring shop, Yarra Valley Cycles, was immeasurably valuable.
“They were incredible, the first thing they did was come and help us – they were in every shop mopping and scraping out mud.”
The arduous clean-up continues for about a dozen shops in Lilydale shopping strip on Main St and Williams St.
Heavy rainfall and flash flooding has hit the Lilydale area hard, with VICSES Lilydale Unit volunteers receiving over 130 requests for assistance in the last hour.
— VICSES News (@vicsesnews) October 25, 2022
Remember - never enter floodwater. It could be the last decision you make. pic.twitter.com/van7sRtnw7
A resident posted a video on Twitter of the streams of water flowing down her street, captioned “sewerage overflow leaking on to properties in the suburb”.
“Council have been notified but have expressed they are unable to send anyone or do anything about the sewerage,” she wrote.
Twitter users complained of houses flooding from Mooroolbark and Croydon all the way to Mount Evelyn.
A major flood warning has been issued for regions downstream of Basin Creek and the Snowy River following a downpour of up to 50mm in the 24 hours to Tuesday night.
Victoria Emergency has urged residents along the Snowy River down to McKillops Bridge to “prepare now”.
Severe thunderstorm activity has also been listed for Bayswater and Seville.
Incredible images from yesterday’s flash flooding in Lilydale! 😳
— Victorian Storm Chasers (@VicStormChasers) October 25, 2022
📸 Alistair E#Melbourne#melbweather#melbourneweather#StormHour#weather#SevereWeather
Licensing available via @SevereWeatherAUpic.twitter.com/bwxVdQU9y0
Sections of Hull Rd and Mooroolbark Rd in Mooroolbark were also flooded.
The Bureau of Meteorology reported heavy falls with severe thunderstorms occurring in the northeast of Melbourne on Tuesday afternoon, with 44mm of rain falling in Olinda Creek at Lilydale Lake in the 30 minutes to 5.30pm.
A VICSES spokesman said residents should remember never to attempt entering floodwater.
“People need to remember that they should never drive into flood water and it only takes 15 centimetres for a car to float in water.”
It advised residents who urgently needed sandbags to visit its headquarters in Nelson Rd.
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