"Blackouts, roads cut, flood waters": Monstrous storms wreak havoc on Australia
Wild weather has hit Australia’s southeast with South Australia already being drenched while Victoria is bracing for a “10 out of 10” storm.
Overnight, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) predicted 150mm to 200mm of rain would fall in Melbourne over the next five days.
BoM senior meteorologist Scott Williams warned, “This is an event of absolute massive scale, half the inhabitants of Melbourne have never ever seen anything like this.”
Horsham, in the Victoria’s west, has already recorded almost its entire average December rainfall in one night.
BoM has issued an unprecedented two-day severe weather warning for heavy rainfall across the entire Victorian states as well as southern NSW including Albury, Wagga Wagga and parts of the ACT.
Southern NSW could get “more than a month’s rain in 36 hours” and flood warnings are also in place for Tasmania and Victoria as a low pressure system sweeps through the country’s south.
It’s also predicted Hobart could get up to 80mm of rain, Canberra 100mm and Brisbane 120mm through the weekend and early into next week.
The massive storms have already struck South Australia, leaving thousands of homes in a blackout.
Probably not the best day to hang out the washing. #Melbourne #rain #welcometosummer pic.twitter.com/fwJrcorRiW
— Just David Braue (@zyzzyvamedia) November 30, 2017
Victorians have been warned about a severe rain warning with 500 State Emergency Services (SES) staff on standby.
On Thursday, Mr Williams warned much of the rain could come in one dumping, raising flooding fears.
“It is an event that poses a threat to life, there will be a massive amount of lightning, there will be roads cut, flood waters,” he said.
“Those thunderstorms will gradually all weld into a massive, great rain band, and that band will spread down across the state on Friday night and Saturday morning.
“This is a vast, intense, high-impact event for this state. I think this event will turn farms into lakes.
“They didn’t think the Titanic would sink, but it did two hours later,” Mr Williams said.
The number one piece of advice: do not drive through flood waters.