Severe weather warning for heavy rainfall, thunderstorms in Victoria
Parts of Victoria have been lashed by a month’s worth of rain in just hours as a huge storm causes flash flooding and hundreds of calls for help.
Parts of Victoria have been battered by a month’s worth of rain in less than 12 hours with a huge storm causing flash flooding as it crosses the state.
Almost 70mm has fallen in some areas since last night with Melbourne and towns across central and western Victoria, such as Stawell and Bendigo, lashed by more than the average January rainfall in six to 12 hours.
Emergency services have also had to rescue three people after they became stuck in floodwaters, two of who were attempting to drive through water covering the road.
The State Emergency Service (SES) has pleaded with motorists not to plough through flood waters, revealing it has been called to trapped cars in South Melbourne and Bendigo.
Describing the two rescues as “disappointing”, the SES’s Josh Gamble said drivers needed to use common sense and stay away from flooded roads.
“Luckily there were no injuries, however, responding agencies put our lives and our equipment at risk trying to get to these people and it only takes 15 centimetres of water for vehicles to float and cause further risk and near-drowning, so we please recommend people use their common sense and do not drive through any form of floodwaters and put further community and emergency responders at risk,” he said.
It comes as areas in the north of the state have been warned to prepare for rivers to flood and advised to have plans in place to evacuate or sandbag if needed.
A month’s rainfall had fallen across much of the state in just one day, leading to a risk of some rivers breaking their banks, “particularly in Avoca, with the Avoca river”, Mr Gamble said.
While the flood risk was not “heightened at this point” or cause for worry, the residents of towns in low-lying areas which had flooded before should be on alert, “should flash flooding arise this afternoon, with severe thunderstorm warnings”, he said.
“We need residents of low-lying areas to monitor conditions and have their flood plan in place . . . to make sure they leave early as their primary principle, however, if they want to stay they need to make sure they have sandbags at the ready or have other plans in place to get to higher areas of their property, should floodwaters come into play,” Mr Gamble said.
SES volunteers have responded to have responded to 576 calls for help in the past 24 hours to 1.30pm, with 444 since midnight.
Almost 190 call outs have been for flooding, with 177 for building damage, such as leaky roofs, and 159 for fallen trees.
Weather bureau senior meteorologist Dean Narramore said Victoria had “copped a drenching” in the past 24 hours with heavy rainfall from the Wimmera to the Great Ocean Road and across metropolitan Melbourne.
He said there had been widespread falls of 30 to 50mm with the highest totals around the Grampians, including 68mm at Mount William, 60mm at Stawell and 55mm at Ararat.
“Melbourne metro itself has seen 40mm in four hours and the month’s average for January is 47mm,” Mr Narramore said.
“Many locations, not only in Melbourne, but right across western and central Victoria, have had a month’s worth of rain in less than six to 12 hours.
“That rain is continuing to move towards the east with falls continuing in the 20 to 40mm range.”
Mr Narramore said the rain would continue into the evening and overnight before mostly clearing the city before dawn and the northern and eastern suburbs by midmorning.
While most of the impacts so far has been related to flash flooding, flood warnings have been issued for rivers in northern Victoria, with fears the Goulburn and Broken catchments could overflow from tonight.
VicEmergency said storms and heavy rainfall would see rivers rise and some areas could flood.
A flood watch alert has been issued for north central rivers and catchments, including Broken, Campaspe, Loddon and Avoca rivers, Broken Creek, Seven and Castle creeks, Goulburn River upstream of Lake Eildon, Goulburn River from Eildon to Seymour and Goulburn River downstream of Seymour.
The Department of Transport is pleading with Victorian motorists to take care, plan journeys and, if possible, delay their travel following heavy rainfall across the state.
The Bureau of Meteorology has also issued a road weather alert calling on motorists to slow down and use extreme care.
VicRoads Incident Response crew is currently busy helping motorists, attending collisions and breakdowns and closing flooded roads across Melbourne.
It has asked motorists to ensure their headlights were on in the rain and to watch for cyclists and motorbikes, which could be harder to see.
It also appealed to people not to walk, ride or drive through flood waters.
Earlier, the State Emergency Service (SES) said it had received 426 calls for help over the last 24 hours, nearly half of which had come in between 5:30am and 11:30am Friday morning.
Bendigo and greater Melbourne had been among the worst hit, a spokeswoman said.
The weather bureau said while rain had now slowed in some soaked parts of the state, wild storms were forecast to hit a number of areas later in the day.
While severe weather is no longer pummelling the South West and Wimmera districts and the warning for these districts had been cancelled, there is still a risk of thunderstorms developing later today in those regions, potentially delivering very heavy rain and damaging winds, BOM said.
Falls of 30 to 60mm were expected, with isolated heavier falls of up to 90mm possible with storms in some areas.
The Victorian regions of Horsham, Nhill and Hamilton are set to be smashed with wind and heavy rain over “the next several hours”, leading to flash flooding warnings from weather bureau.
“Further showers and thunderstorms are likely to develop on a trough in the west of the State this afternoon and evening, moving into central parts late tonight and into Saturday morning,” it warned.
The regional cities and towns of Geelong, Bendigo, Shepparton, Seymour, Maryborough, Ballarat, Wodonga, Stawell and Wangaratta could be among the worst affected.
By 10:45am this morning Mount William in the Grampians had recorded an extraordinary 68.6mm of rainfall, Stawell 56.2mm, Ballarat 45.4mm, Bendigo 39mm and Avalon Airport, between Geelong and Melbourne, 37mm.
Parts of Victoria had already been pummelled with heavy rain overnight, with some towns recording more than 24mm in just an hour.
A severe weather warning for heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding has been flagged for Geelong, the Surf Coast and the outer-western suburbs of Melbourne.
“Flooding has already been observed in western parts of the warning area, and will extend eastwards during the day,” a statement from the Bureau of Meteorology read.
Stawell in western Victoria was smashed with 24.6mm of rain in just an hour between 3am and 4am, while Mount William has recorded 67.6mm in the part 24 hours.
Other towns to record significant falls so far include Navarre with 53.6mm, Stawell with 52.8mm, Ballarat with 34mm, Westmere with 32.4mm, Warracknabeal with 31mm and Charlton with 21.2mm.
The State Emergency Service received 41 calls for assistance between 8am and 9am.
A spokeswoman said 25 calls were for flooding, such as water coming through rooves and localised floods.
Bendigo has been the hardest hit area with 18 call outs so far, with other towns west of Melbourne, including Maryborough, Avoca and Castlemaine also being impacted.
Weather bureau duty forecaster Michael Laczko said the rainfall system had formed a bit further south and west than first thought.
“This weather feature has been quite changeable,” he said.
Today's rain band is expected to bring widespread rainfall totals of 15-40mm, but isolated totals of 60-80mm are possible mainly in locations affected by thunderstorms. Track storms using the lightning layer on our live satellite images here: https://t.co/qLpun4aBWq#VicWeather pic.twitter.com/izCDosRm8q
— Bureau of Meteorology, Victoria (@BOM_Vic) January 28, 2021
“There was fairly persistent rain overnight … Stawell was hit by a thunderstorm.”
Mr Laczko said there would be heavier falls throughout Friday morning in Melbourne before steady rain settles in during the afternoon and evening.
He said the rain would ease slightly before storms potentially returned in Melbourne overnight and into Saturday morning.
The rain is then expected to clear to the east throughout Saturday morning.
Widespread totals of between 30 and 60mm are expected across the state on Friday with isolated heavier falls of 80 to 90mm associated with thunderstorms.
The weather bureau has warned the heavy rainfall may lead to flash flooding.
Towns likely be affected include Bendigo, Shepparton, Seymour, Maryborough, Ballarat, Wodonga, Stawell and Wangaratta.
The State Emergency Service has urged people to avoid travel if possible and to stay away from dangerous hazards such as floodwater, mud, debris, damaged roads and fallen trees.
Victorians should stay indoors and away from windows and make sure loose items such as outdoor settings, umbrellas and trampolines are secured.
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