Storms bring rain to Victoria with more to come

A LINE of storms early today brought up to 10mm of rain across parts of Victoria.

Chris Nixon is a dairy farmer in Bete Bolong. They've had 527mm of rain this year, as a result paddocks are saturated to the point of flooding PICTURE: ANDY ROGERS

A LINE of storms early today brought up to 10mm of rain across parts of Victoria.

Bendigo recorded 5mm, Inglewood another 3mm, Maryborough 10mm, Yarrawonga 4mm and Shepparton had 3mm.

Clunes had 10mm and Kilmore 5mm.

Little rain again in the northwest, with only 1mm recorded at Beulah.

St Arnaud had 3mm and Donald 1mm, as the Wimmera mostly missed out.

There were only light falls in the west of the state, with 2mm falling at Rokewood.

Falls in the northeast were higher, with 10mm at Benalla, Cheshunt had 14mm, Broken Weir 16mm and Violet Town had 10mm.

Dargo had 3mm, but falls were light across most of Gippsland.

The Bureau of Meteorology is tipping heavier falls for the east of the state and good totals up into the Wimmera on the weekend.

Despite the run of wet weather, the bureau said the drying El Nino weather pattern was continuing to develop.

“Weakened trade winds have resulted in further warming over much of the tropical Pacific Ocean,” the bureau said.

The past week has seen the Southern Oscillation Index drop to around -20, the lowest values of the “event” so far.

“All international climate models surveyed by the bureau indicate El Nino is likely to strengthen, and is expected to persist into early 2016,” the bureau said.

Meanwhile, the raising of the Mildura Weir pool has been delayed for up to one week to replace a suspected damaged trestle.

A Goulburn Murray Water spokeswoman said staff had noticed a vibration in one of the existing trestles at the weekend.

“Given the importance of this structure to the ongoing efficient and reliable operation of the river, it’s important for us to remove the trestle to reduce the risk of any further possible damage,” the spokeswoman said.