Hundreds of people across Victoria and South Australia have called for help after heavy rain and severe storms lashed the two states.
Residents in Victoria’s north and north-east were warned to expect rainfall totals up to 200mm when thunderstorms sweep across the state on Sunday and Monday.
The town of Mangalore, two hours north of Melbourne, recorded almost 50mm of rain between 9am and 5pm on Sunday, while Bendigo received 39mm, Puckapunyal 37mm and Kyabram and Wangaratta both had 29mm.
The Victorian State Emergency Service had responded to more than 110 requests for help and at least 53 flood-related rescues by Sunday afternoon.
SA and southern NSW were also expected to be affected by the major weather event with the latter forecast to experience severe flash flooding to Tuesday.
Rain and severe storms are on the way for parts of central and eastern #Australia, with heavy rainfall a risk over the coming days.
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) January 6, 2024
Damaging wind gusts and large hail are possible for inland areas.
Find the latest forecasts and warnings at https://t.co/4W35o8i7wJ. pic.twitter.com/sr4GQIKj5T
The SA State Emergency Service responded to over 90 calls for help on Sunday after fast-flowing flood waters blocked roads in the Flinders Ranges.
Heavy rainfall caused fast-flowing creeks to overtop roads leaving some areas impassable. A power outage left Coober Pedy hospital running on back-up power.
On Saturday, the Victorian emergency management commissioner, Rick Nugent, said flash flooding was highly likely along many of the state’s already sodden rivers and creeks following recent rain.
Residents of flood-prone areas, as well as campers and holidaymakers in caravan parks, were urged to prepare and be on the lookout for emergency flood warnings.
“Falling tree branches and flash floods are the highest risk,” Nugent told reporters. “Please don’t drive through flood waters – you’re driving a car not a boat.”
The storms had been expected to develop in Victoria’s west on Sunday morning, before moving through central, north central and eastern parts of the state during the day and into Monday.
Some areas in Victoria’s Mallee and Wimmera districts could record up to 60mm of rain in less than an hour, bureau meteorologist Michael Efron had cautioned.
“The amount of moisture across the state at the moment is incredible,” Efron said. “It’s what you would normally see in somewhere like Queensland.”
Victoria’s State Emergency Service chief, Tim Wiebusch, said storm fronts with a “tropical moisture link” often prompted flash flooding and subsequent riverine flooding.
The flooding risk was highest in the state’s north but metropolitan Melbourne could face the same threat between midnight on Sunday and midday on Monday.
“We’ve already seen 20 flood rescues from the start of 2024 – that’s 20 too many,” Wiebusch said.
SES crews were to establish sandbag collection points at high-risk locations such as Bendigo, Castlemaine, Campbells Creek, Heathcote and Wedderburn from Sunday.
The latest flood threat comes amid the clean-up from storms in south-east Queensland and ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper in the state’s far north, with the repair bill from the back-to-back disasters expected to pass $2bn.
