SEE WEATHER GRAPH BELOW
UPDATE: The worst of the day’s storms have passed Melbourne, weather forecasters say.
Thunderstorms which swept across the city on Monday dumping heavy rain over the northern suburbs have moved over the state’s east.
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Stephen McGibbony said Melbourne saw the last of the storms about 2.30pm.
“Those storms will clear away to the east and there shouldn’t be any more for Melbourne,” he said.
“There’s nothing else on radar west of Melbourne, so Melbourne seems to be done for the day in terms of storms.”
However, storms may continue to affect areas the state’s north and north-east, near Echuca, Shepparton and Mansfield.
“There are storms developing right down the middle of the state, along the wind change that came through the Melbourne area earlier,” Mr McGibbony said.
Mr McGibbony said Melbourne saw “quite a bit” of lightning and thunder as the storm front crossed the CBD and headed towards Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
Heavy rain pelted Melbourne’s CBD for about 30 minutes from 1pm, before easing.
The CBD received about 3 millimetres of rain, but between 10 and 15 millimetres of rain fell in northern suburbs.
More than 2270 lightning strikes were recorded within a 50 kilometres radius of Melbourne’s CBD by Global Position and Tracking Systems.
Much of the lightning activity was recorded between 11am to 3pm.
The storms moved towards the east, reaching Craigieburn, Greensborough, Healesville, Neerim, Templestowe and Warburton about 2.20pm.
They were forecast to reach Hurstbridge, Lilydale, Whittlesea, Yarra Glen, the area south of Kinglake and the area south of Whittlesea by 2.50pm.
Nearly 1000 homes have been left without power at Beaufort near Ballarat in the storm’s wake.
The storms have also created havoc for public transport commuters.
Buses are replacing trains between Laverton and Werribee, due to storm damage on the Werribee line.
Fortunately, the State Emergency Service had not received any reports of damage by 2.30pm.
This story first appeared in The Age
