BALLARAT had its average monthly rainfall come down in a matter of hours on Friday afternoon and evening.
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The wild weather, punctuated by lightning and strong winds, kept State Emergency Service workers and CFA crews busy sorting out flash floods, downed trees and fires. The SES attended 30 call-outs on Friday evening.
Midwest duty officer John Hooper said the sheer volume of rain meant they had lots to deal with.
“We had flash floods around the Ballarat region in the evening,” he said. “The last task came in just after 8pm.”
The CFA also had to respond to grass fires caused by the lightning, as well as downed wires.
Ballarat city station officer Jarrod Howlett said the heavy rain made dealing with the outcomes of the storm tricky.
Police and SES volunteers were kept busy on Sunday night clearing at least 10 trees which had fallen across the road in a 2km stretch near Avoca.
This is the second month of summer hit by sudden rainfall, with January recording almost double its average rainfall because of one 36 millimetre day.
