Dozens of calls for help were made to Victoria’s emergency services as storm fronts moved across the state on Friday evening.
A severe storm warning was issued for the Melbourne area, with heavy rain, hail and damaging winds expected to hit some parts.
By 7.30pm on Friday, leaky roofs and damage to property were being reported around the state’s mid-west and in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
A State Emergency Service spokesman said there had been flooding of homes in Ballarat, as the rain seeped in through roofs, windows and skylights.
Similar complaints were received from south eastern Melbourne suburbs including Chelsea and Hastings.
Meanwhile, there was an unconfirmed report that a roof had collapsed in Mulgrave.
About 200 calls were received across the state up until 10pm, suggesting that much of Victoria had emerged unscathed from the wild weather.
“I think it’s mostly business as usual for our units out there clearing jobs,” the SES spokesman said.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Richard Carlyon said further lines of storms were expected to arrive throughout the evening.
“It looks like it will be fairly stormy throughout the night and into Saturday morning,” Mr Carlyon said.
“That’s because of the humid conditions.”
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Flights delayed
A number of flights were delayed at Melbourne Airport on Friday evening because of lighting activity in the area.
Airport spokeswoman Anna Gillett said it was standard procedure that all ground staff, including baggage handlers, had to leave the airfield while the risk of lightning remained.
During that time she said people could not board or disembark a plane. “So people may be on the tarmac sitting in the plane waiting to get out.”
Some of those stuck on the tarmac on Friday evening took to Twitter to say they had been waiting for more than an hour.
Passengers travelling from the airport on Friday night or Saturday morning are advised to visit the airport website or contact their airline for flight details.
Travel pain
The wild weather was also causing trouble on Melbourne’s train network.
A storm damaged a train in the Carrum area, forcing services on the Frankston line to be suspended from Mordialloc to Frankston.
Trains were also suspended on the Hurstbridge line from Greensborough due to lightning strikes damaging signalling equipment, while trains could not stop at Blackburn station due to a flooded subway.
All these dramas had been fixed by 10pm, although the Glen Waverley and Pakenham lines for a short time continued to experience delays as the network attempted to recover from the storm-caused disruptions.
Gig cancelled
Singer Dan Sultan was forced to cancel his Melbourne show on Friday night due to the threatening storm.
The ARIA award winner was scheduled to perform at the Melbourne Zoo at a twilight show.
About 20 minutes before he was scheduled to go on stage he took to Facebook to apologise to his fans, while announcing the bad news.
“Unfortunately the lightning and storms have made it far too risky for me to perform and for you guys to enjoy the show,” he wrote.
A statement on the Melbourne Zoo website said they were “hoping to reschedule the event to an alternative date”. They are also offering refunds to ticketholders.
Weather
Mount Buller received the highest dousing of rain on Friday, with 54.2 millimetres falling since 9am.
Exactly 17 millimetres fell in Geelong, while Melbourne received 11 millimetres.
Looking forward to the weekend, Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Richard Carlyon said much of Saturday was expected to remain overcast, with storms around in the morning, before conditions cleared in the afternoon.
He said there would likely be showers and storms again late on Sunday, ahead of a cool wind change.
“Sunday should be clear for a lot of the day – like today – with the potential for storms later in the afternoon,” he said.
North-easterly winds had carried a lot of moisture over Victoria, Mr Carlyon said, creating humid and unstable conditions.
“The moisture has been pooling over the state for the past week,” he said.
The mercury is expected to reach 31 degrees on Saturday and 33 degrees on Sunday, but a south-westerly wind change will likely see temperatures fall to 22 degrees on Monday.
