Month’s worth of rain has flow-on effects

Nearly 50mm of rain fell into the Bureau of Meteorology’s (BoM) rain gauge at Geelong Racecourse – in two distinct dumpings Friday night and Saturday morning.

Between 9:40 pm and midnight, 21mm of rain fell, while another 23mm of rain fell between 3:50 am and 6:50 am, a total of 46mm in the 24 hours to 9 am Saturday morning.

The State Emergency Service (SES) has been called to over 500 incidents across the state, including at least 100 across the Geelong region, one of those pictured above: a driver trying to take on floodwaters in a Toyota Camry despite the barrage of messaging: Do not drive through floodwaters.

Across the state, more than 400 roads are closed, including a number of flood-affected roads in Lara, Anakie, Sutherlands Creek, and Lethbridge.

In Lara, Hovells Creek has swollen with locals flocking to see flooded parkland

The main road between Geelong and Bacchus Marsh is closed, due to flooding to the North of the Barwon Prison Complex.

Water flowing across roads has also seen the closure of Carrs Road, Old Boundary Road, and Brownes Road

Detours are in place along Staceys Road, Geelong-Ballan Road, and Granite Road.

A number of roads that cross, or are near the Moorabool River are also closed, including Perdisat Road in Lethbridge, Parker Road, and Russells Bridge Road in Russells Bridge, Bakers Bridge Road in Sutherlands Creek, the flooding hasn’t yet impacted the Midland Highway at Batesford.

 

Keep up to date with the latest closures by visiting the VicTraffic website https://traffic.vicroads.vic.gov.au/ or downloading the VicTraffic app.

Most parts of the state are covered by Flood Advice, Watch and Act, Emergency Warnings or Evacuation Warnings with the Murray River at Echuca now exceeding the 1993 flood height, but the peak isn’t expected to be reached until late Sunday or early Monday morning.

For the latest flood information, head to the VicEmergency website https://emergency.vic.gov.au/ , or download the VicEmergency app

 

 

Images:

Top: A Toyota Camry stranded after attempting to drive through floodwaters on Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road near the Barwon Prison Complex [L. Zacher]

Second: Hovells Creek flooding drawing plenty of locals [R. McDonald]

Third: A number of local roads are closed [VicTraffic]

Fourth: Advice messages and flood warnings across the state [VicEmergency]