Suddenly, the city was awash as floodwaters swept through the state’s capital

FORECASTS pointed to a wet and windy night for Hobart, a standard sort of sou’-easterly. Cold and miserable, but nothing too extreme. Then came the rains.

FORECASTS pointed to a wet and windy night for Hobart, a standard sort of sou’-easterly. Cold and miserable, but nothing too extreme.

It was a slow build. As commuters made their way home, the steady rain had set in at 6pm. Hobart had recorded 14mm of rain — wet but hardly a drenching.

The wind was squally but nothing over the top.

About 9.35pm, the rain was heavy. Lightning flashed in the south and a series of thunderstorms began to roll in.

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It was about 10pm when the weather set in and the wind picked up. Heavy torrents engulfed the city. Clouds dumped their load on Mt Wellington and swollen creeks and rivulets began to rise rapidly.

Liam O’Donovan and mates were enjoying a drink at the Hope and Anchor. The call came out for final drinks. It was about 10.30pm when they went to the door. The Hobart Rivulet in Collins St was suddenly a raging torrent and had broken its banks. It had smashed fences and swept up cars in Market Place. It roared past the Hope and Anchor, thigh deep.

“We went to walk outside and quite literally couldn’t,” Mr O’Donovan said.

“We were all just in awe of the magnitude of what was happening.”

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Books were washed out of the law library at the University of Tasmania’s Sandy Bay campus.

In Sandy Bay the huge volume of water flowing off the mountain was also taking its toll.

A group of students working late in the University of Tasmania’s engineering block captured amazing footage as a sheet of water washed down a corridor. Elsewhere on the campus, a man was left shaken but unharmed after he became trapped in a room by the rapidly rising waters.

He was rescued by SES and Tasmania Police when the water was a metre deep.

During an intense one-hour period Hobart received 43.4mm of rain. Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Brooke Oakley said the deluge between 10 and 11pm was when most of the flash flooding occurred.

“Thunderstorms were training into Hobart,” she said.

“That’s a term we use when describing a line of storms and they just keep pumping one after the other.”

Julia Ridgers, who owns Brookfield Shed at Margate, described the moment when a wall of floodwater tore down her cafe and home.

“All of a sudden we heard a huge noise and this wall of water came crashing through,” she said.

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South Hobart copped it too.

Resident Matt Hastings had to do a double-take when he looked out the window in Degraves St at 11pm and noticed a river where a road used to be.

“I looked out the window and there was a river coming down McRobies Rd,” he said.

“We saw wheelie bins floating past and then cars were coming down the road.”

About midnight, near flooded Lenah Valley Rd, Wayne Whiting was turning vehicles away when he spotted a pair of headlights. The headlights belonged to a Lenah Valley couple trapped in their car.

With no regard for his safety, Mr Whiting waded into waist-deep water to free them before their car floated down an embankment and into the flooded Lenah Valley Creek.

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SES crews received about 400 calls for help from Thursday night until Friday night.

By late last night, power had been restored to thousands of homes around greater Hobart.

Crews face big clean ups at flood-hit Salamanca, Collins St and the New Town Rivulet at Risdon Rd near the Brooker Highway.

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The Royal Hobart Hospital experienced storm damage and hospital management issued a code yellow alert, which signifies an internal emergency, to help manage the fallout. Extra workers have been rostered on at the hospital to deal with expected high demand.

Ms Oakley said the brutal weather was caused by a complex area of low pressure that formed to the east of Tasmania.

“Then little low centres within that moved near Hobart,” she said.

Water rips down the Hobart Rivulet. The fence was knocked down and cars were swept away after it spilled its banks. Picture: PATRICK GEE

At first light on Friday, the extent of the damage was revealed as emergency service crews, council workers and homeowners began to assess the damage. The CBD resembled a ghost town as residents heeded police and council warnings to stay away and schools were closed.

Several businesses couldn’t open because of water damage or staff trapped by road closures and damage to their homes, including newly opened fashion giant H&M, grocer Salamanca Fresh and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

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Channel Court Shopping Centre at Kingston was closed after floodwater inundated the underground carpark and businesses on the ground floor of the complex.

Patrick Barnes and his housemates Casey Morgan and Jason Scarr were in clean-up mode as they returned to their Degraves St home.

“Everything’s gone,” Mr Barnes said.

A record 236.2mm of rain fell on kunanyi/Mt Wellington in the 24 hours to 9am on Friday smashing the 2012 record of 185.4mm.

“Hobart received 129mm of rain and that was the wettest May day on record,” Ms Oakley said.

“It was also the fourth highest day on record.”

Hobart Lord Mayor Ron Christie said the damage bill could be more than $5 million. Police say emergency services will continue working over the weekend to address requests for help as a result of the severe weather event.

SES crews have received 395 requests for help since Thursday night, attended 373 with 22 outstanding.

Numerous roads remain closed around the south, including Pinnacle Rd at Mt Wellington, which will be closed until Monday morning.

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Tasmania Police said people needed to contact TasNetworks if their power was still on and they believed their homes had been water damaged.

Premier Will Hodgman praised the efforts of the emergency services.