Flash flooding hits Melbourne
FLASH floods caused havoc for some in Melbourne yesterday afternoon, with sudden torrents turning backyards, suburban streets and ponds into gushing rivers.
An afternoon Christmas party at a Pakenham housing estate in the city’s outer southeast was called off when heavy rainfall halted celebrations.
Party organiser Samantha Thorpe said a little pond nearby became “like a raging river”.
“It has never happened like this before,” Ms Thorpe said.
Just as amazingly, she said, within an hour of the deluge, the water had drained away and the sun was shining, as if it hadn’t happened.
A general severe thunderstorm warning remains in place for most of the state – Central, East Gippsland, South West, North Central, West and South Gippsland, Wimmera, parts of the Mallee and Northern Country districts.
Thunderstorms lashing parts of Victoria resulted in up to 13mm of rainfall every five minutes in the early hours of yesterday and a severe weather warning is also in place for parts of Victoria including Shepparton, Seymour, Castlemaine, Kyneton, Ballarat and Wangaratta.
Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said weather was widespread.
“There weren’t too many parts of the state that have been spared the impact of the weather event we’ve seen over the past 48 hours,” he said