By Cassandra Morgan and Lachlan Abbott
Geelong copped more rain on Friday than in any calendar month this year, triggering a warning for “life-threatening flash flooding” in the regional city as storms smashed Victoria.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the Geelong Racecourse recorded 69 millimetres of rain from 9am to 7pm on Friday, including 44.4 millimetres in the 30 minutes to 3.55pm. Meanwhile, only 59.4 millimetres was recorded in April – Geelong’s wettest month in 2024.
Storm clouds over Melbourne on Friday, as seen from Mickleham Road in the city’s northern suburbs.Credit: Jason South
A watch and act alert told Geelong and Bellarine Peninsula residents to “prepare to take shelter” shortly after 4pm. The weather bureau warned a “very dangerous thunderstorm” was “likely to produce intense rainfall that may lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding”.
The deluge forced the Royal Geelong Show to close early on Friday. “We have been inundated with water and must close for the safety of everyone,” organisers said in a Facebook post shortly after 4pm.
A State Control Centre spokesperson said the Victoria SES responded to 558 calls for help in the 24 hours to 6pm Friday. The busiest crews were in South Barwon and Geelong, they said. Most callouts were for flooding, building damage and fallen trees, but 14 flood rescues were also carried out across the state.
Several storm cells also moved across Melbourne from west to east on Friday.
Twenty-six millimetres of rain fell in Elsternwick in the 30 minutes to midday. In Frankston, 35.2 millimetres was recorded in the two hours to 11.45am. Intense rainfall also hit the Yarra and Dandenong Ranges in the city’s east as dark clouds drifted over northern Melbourne in the afternoon.
The metropolitan thunderstorm warning was downgraded shortly before 6pm as the heaviest weather shifted to Victoria’s north-east. All severe weather warnings across Victoria were cancelled by 8pm.
The weather bureau had forecast large hailstones across the state, ranging from those the size of marbles in Melbourne to golf ball-sized in Victoria’s north-east.
Senior meteorologist Joanna Hewes said a deep low-pressure system sitting over Victoria’s south-west late on Friday morning drove a rain band ahead of it.
“What we’re expecting broadly across much of the state today is the potential for large hail – so that’s hail at two centimetres or larger,” Hewes said. “But then up in north-east Victoria, there’s the potential for what we classify as giant hail … that’s more your golf ball-sized hail.”
The State Control Centre reiterated the bureau’s warnings, and said: “Destructive winds, giant hail and intense rainfall are possible in the north-east and eastern parts of the northern country and north central districts.
“There is a possibility of tornadoes forming in this area. Elsewhere, damaging winds, large hail and heavy rainfall are possible across most of the state, excluding western parts of the Mallee and north-eastern parts of East Gippsland.”
Rainfall of up to 40 millimetres was expected to hit Melbourne on Friday, but areas south-west of the city, including Avalon and Werribee, were the hardest hit by 11am.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Kevin Parkyn said unique winds caused supercell thunderstorms to form in western Victoria on Wednesday, dumping hail “as large as cricket balls” on the small town of Casterton.
Before Friday’s storms, Parkyn warned of intense rainfall that could cause flash flooding, and destructive winds “capable of ripping trees out of the ground”.
“Unfortunately, [the storms] don’t come with a timetable; they don’t even come with a platform,” he said.
On Thursday, Victoria SES commander David Baker urged motorcyclists heading to the MotoGP on Phillip Island to reconsider their travel plans if they wanted to be on the road on Friday afternoon.
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