00:01Most of the calls in the last 24 hours have been through various parts of Victoria, but
00:07specifically around the Melbourne metropolitan area, it saw a lot of heavy rainfall over
00:12the last 24 hour period.
00:14So most of the calls for roof damage or water entering homes, or we had six water rescues
00:22with people that had decided to enter floodwaters and we had to rescue them from their vehicles.
00:27But most of them were water related calls for 24 hours.
00:32And where have the biggest of the rainfall totals been so far and what's the situation
00:37with the rivers and creeks now?
00:41Yeah, so our worry is for some very interesting weather over the next 24 to 48 hours in Victoria.
00:50Currently in the northern part of Victoria, we have risks of thunderstorms passing through
00:57there with heavy rainfall, hail and some damaging winds till about 10, 11 o'clock tonight.
01:03But our next focus of concern is from the early hours of tomorrow morning, say three or four
01:09in the morning, where we'll see some heavy rainfalls associated with a low system through Victoria,
01:16with a specific concern around areas on the Great Ocean Road, the hot ways, and also down in the
01:26south Gippsland coast, in the western south Gippsland area, including Wall Street and Boon Park.
01:31So we're concerned about level of rain there, expecting somewhere between 70 to 100 millimetres,
01:38with the potential for local heavier falls up to 150 millimetres over a 24-hour period,
01:46starting early hours tomorrow morning.
01:49Yeah, and so based on your experience, what could that kind of rainfall lead to in terms of flooding in
01:54those districts?
01:57Yeah, absolutely. And we're very conscious of the events of 15 January down on the Great Ocean Road.
02:04We're putting a lot of measures in place at stake, but importantly at local and regional level with our partner
02:10agencies,
02:11the caravan park owners, to prepare people for the eventuality of those large rainfalls.
02:16The big key risk is flash flooding, no notice event, where we have significant heavy rainfalls of that volume,
02:25especially where the rain falls at elevation and rushes through the system very quickly.
02:32And then the potential for riverine flooding through the next couple of days in those areas.
02:38But the key life-threatening risk that we're focusing on at the moment is the flash flooding risk
02:43during the early hours of the morning. And we're conscious it's the end of the school holidays.
02:47People are still camping. So we're advising them tonight, as you have your family dinner,
02:54is the time to decide we're either moving to higher ground now or maybe we'll pack up and head home.
03:00We know a lot of the caravan parks in that Great Ocean Road area have already enacted their emergency management
03:07plan
03:07and have moved people or they're closing bookings for tonight. And we applaud them for taking those actions.
03:13And what's your appeal to people more broadly over this weekend?
03:17I mean, you've already mentioned in the last 24 hours you've had to do some rescues of people in their
03:22cars.
03:25Yeah, it's a simple message. If it's flooded, forget it. Find an alternate route.
03:31Don't bother going through the floodwater. It might be the worst last decision of your life.
03:40So just stay away from it. Be at higher ground early rather than wake up and find out
03:47you probably needed to have been in a more desirable place.
03:50But certainly if you're confronted by flooded roads, stop, turn around and choose a more safer route to get to
03:58where you need to be.
