After months of blue skies and dwindling dams, the weekend finally brought rain to drought-stricken areas of Victoria. More than 25 millimetres of rain fell in many parts of the state, giving hope to rural communities.
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00:00A sight for sore eyes. On this farm outside of Warrnambool, more than 40 millimetres has fallen since Friday.
00:10It's hitting me in the face right now and I am just loving it because it's just going to mean that we're going to be able to turn this farm around again.
00:17Dry soil has become mud, which means it's time to plant a long overdue strawberry crop.
00:25We've got to get 45,000 plants in the ground and that's going to be exciting for us.
00:32At parched Eden Hope in the state's west, Clayton Caldo has been hand feeding his flock for months.
00:40But he's finally caught a break since Friday 44 millimetres of rain has fallen at his property.
00:47That's amazing. A month earlier would have been amazing, but it's going to really kick start.
00:52A lot of pastures, clover, there would be a lot of stuff popping out of the ground now.
00:57At Mount Moriak, the drought forced beef farmers Eliza Holt and Jim McKenna to move their cattle to another property.
01:04For the first time ever, we faced the reality in January this year that the dam had gone dry
01:09and we just couldn't maintain the cattle here so we had to completely de-stop.
01:14Over the weekend, they received more than 80 millimetres. Dry troughs have been topped up and thirsty paddocks have turned green.
01:23We spent yesterday staring out the window like idiots, just grinning our heads off like it was Christmas.
01:28It's been a long time and it's very welcome.
01:31The dam behind me was dry just a few days ago, but is now filling up.
01:35The weather bureau is forecasting more rain this week, but says it's not enough to replenish most drought stricken areas.
01:43This is very welcome rainfall and it's good to get some rain.
01:46Many of these areas are hundreds of millimetres behind average and coming off the dry 6, 9, 12 months in some places on record.
01:54So it's going to take a number of these systems to break the drought.
01:57It remains to be seen if those big rains will come, but for now there's something to celebrate.