IT caused heartache for those caught in floods, but last weekend's rain has already proved a boon for Ballarat's water storages.
Ballarat's water supply is now at 62.4 per cent capacity, a level not reached since February 2002.
In the last week, 9442 megalitres thundered into the city's reservoirs.
There are 46,886 megalitres available in the system, giving the city almost five year's worth of supply.
The total figures includes 9010 megalitres in water purchases and 1700 megalitres of groundwater.
Central Highlands Water spokeswoman Wendy Stubbs said huge inflows had been recorded throughout August and the first week of September.
''It will continue to come in because the catchments are so wet, which has been great for places like Lal Lal,'' Ms Stubbs said.
What effect the city's wet winter and first week of spring will have on water restrictions is not yet clear.
Ms Stubbs said CHW considered the matter each month and took into account aspects such as water consumption levels.
She said the authority's planning for the move to stage one restrictions earlier this year was based on average winter and spring rainfall.
Meanwhile, wet weather had caused some minor disruptions to the Ballarat water and sewerage systems at the weekend.
Ms Stubbs said fallen trees had burst water mains in two places at Smeaton caused decreased pressure to customers in that area.
''We were very fortunate to get through it all with fairly minimal disruption to customers throughout the weekend.''