By Roy Ward
Melbourne had its wettest day in a year on Sunday as storms blanketed the city and caused significant damage in the western suburbs.
Weather bureau senior meteorologist Simon Timke said Melbourne recorded 15 millimetres of rain in 15 minutes between 4.20pm and 4.35pm.
People walk through the city with umbrellas on Sunday as rain hits Melbourne.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
Flash flooding struck some streets, including Melbourne’s CBD, but the storms’ most significant impact was in the west. Powercor reported that over 28,000 customers — mostly in Werribee and Truganina — were without electricity just after 4:30pm.
Lightning strikes hit some powerlines while the storms and winds sent roofing tiles, solar panels and other debris through lines, causing significant damage.
Just after 9pm, Powercor workers had restored power to more than 25,000 of those customers, with work continuing to bring the remaining 2422 customers back online.
“It was a pretty wet, pretty intense period,” Timke said. “That’s fairly intense and a lot of gutters and drains would struggle to cope with that sort of intensity, and that’s where we get the flooding issues when the rain’s coming down that heavy and that fast.”
Overall, Melbourne had 31.6 millimetres from 9am until just after 6pm on Sunday.
“Which makes it Melbourne’s wettest day since October 19 last year when 32 millimetres were recorded at Melbourne’s Olympic Park site,” Timke said.
He added that the wild weather was a part of spring time in Melbourne.
“Spring is the time for Melbourne and Victoria to get this sort of weather, as we start to see some more dynamic cold fronts moving across,” Timke said.
“Things start to warm up a bit. There’s more energy in the atmosphere, and it’s the favoured time of year for this sort of weather.
“The storms reached the far western suburbs between 3.30pm and 4pm and then moved steadily across the Melbourne area during the next hour or two.”
Overnight and early morning storms on Sunday also left some Powercor customers in Victoria’s south-west without power. Faults were reported in parts of Ballarat, Colac and Horsham, which were worked on throughout the day and into the evening.
The SES received 511 calls statewide between midnight and 9pm, with 289 for building damage, 100 for fallen trees and 79 for flooding.
Rain falls at Ikon Park in Carlton on Sunday after lightning strikes forced an AFLW game to be suspended for 40 minutes.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
The SES’s busiest suburbs on Sunday were Werribee (115 calls) and Hoppers Crossing (62 calls), almost all of them coming after the afternoon storms.
The Bureau of Meteorology reported that Melbourne Olympic Park (37.4 millimetres), Avalon Airport (36.4) and Laverton RAAF (29) had recorded the most rain from midnight to 6pm. Mount Buller topped the state with 48 millimetres.
Melbourne is forecast to have a cool, slightly wet day on Monday with a shower or two and a high of 14 degrees and a low of 10. On Tuesday temperatures are expected to drop to a low of six before a sunny day and a top of 18.
Early storms in Ballarat made for wet, slippery conditions in the AFLW match between Western Bulldogs and Geelong at Mars Stadium on Sunday.
Georgie Prespakis of the Cats and Sarah Poustie of the Bulldogs compete for the ball in an AFLW match in Ballarat on Sunday.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
“The rain held off until the end, but it was like running in a swimming pool,” Geelong’s Amy McDonald told Seven after the game. “It wasn’t the best spectacle, but sometimes you just have to win dirty.”
Lightning caused play to be delayed for 40 minutes in the match between Carlton and GWS Giants at Ikon Park in Carlton in the afternoon before the game was finished safely.
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