Heavy rain floods southeastern Australia
The wettest start to winter across parts of Victoria and New South Wales have left some many underwater.
Soaked supporters suffer soggy conditions at the rugby between the Wallabies and Scotland in Newcastle, NSW. [Getty Images]
The Australian state of Victoria has been hit by more than a month’s worth of rain in just 24 hours. Eastern parts have suffered flooding, power outages, storm damage and widespread road closures.
The region around Traralgon received 200mm of rain on Monday. Around 45 homes were inundated in the area and more than 50 roads closed.
Violent winds gusting over 100 kph also caused widespread disruption and around 9,000 properties lost power for a time. A further 200 properties still remain under threat of flooding.
The government agency, Parks Victoria warned travellers for Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee weekend not to venture into southern parts of the Alpine National Park due to the risk of landslides, impassable river crossings and fallen trees.
Southerly winds also caused the temperatures to fall readily and there were significant snowfalls across mountain tops. Those southerly winds also pushed some heavy showers into New South Wales.
The same southerly winds are likely to enhance the high tides along the east coast over the next few days. That is also likely to exacerbate the flooding concerns along the coastal fringes.
Flood watches remain in place for a good part of the southeast over the next 48 hours as the offending area of low pressure makes its way towards New Zealand. In the process the South Island will see severe snow blizzards over the mountains. This will be welcome news for the ski resorts once the winds eventually die down.