Roads closed in the Ballarat region as heavy rain continues

A number of council roads in the City of Ballarat remained closed on Friday as authorities wait for water to subside

The City of Ballarat released a list that includes;

However some roads have been able to be reopened as waters subside and rain eases

EARLIER

Drivers have been urged to plan ahead and consider detours on Friday as multiple roads across the region remain closed on Friday .

Ballarat Carngham Road, Snake Valley Road and the Glenelg Highway from Bells Road to the Haddon-Ross Creek Road are all key arterials that remain closed with water over them.

Vic Roads also lists the Ballan Daylesford Road, the Sunraysia Highway and multiple roads in the Pyrenees remaining closed due to flooding from Thursday's heavy rains.

Drivers are being urged to consider not travelling, allowing time for alternative routes but not to drive through floodwaters.

Police remain concerned new potholes may have opened up after the heavy rains and hitting them at speed could be damaging to cars or even more dangerous.

Sergeant Leah Kersing said people should reconsider the necessity of travel..

"Please just slow down," she said.

"Some of these holes are like craters. You can blow your tyre or at high speed you have a situation where you lose control of the vehicle and have a serious collision.

"In fact, I'd say just stay off the roads for the moment unless you really need to be."

She said police based in towns along the Western Highway had been dealing with smashes and potholes "all day" on Thursday.

Lexton still has four out of five of its access roads closed by floodwaters and the Carisbrook and Majorca area remains affected following evacuation orders for Carisbrook late on Thursday night.

To the south the Rokewood to Inverleigh was closed and this morning Shelford to Inverleigh Road was also closed.

The city recorded 51.4mm between 9am Thursday and 6am on Friday with 29.4mm recorded at the Bureau of Meteorology's rain gauge at Ballarat airport between 9am Wednesday and 9am Thursday.

All up, more than 80mm fell at the Airport in the last two days - with higher falls recorded across various parts of Ballarat.

Light rain overnight has allowed some of the water to subside but downstream communities are watching carefully as the bulk of the water swells rivers and creeks.

EARLIER:

Victorians are urged to defer all non-essential travel on Thursday as heavy rain continues to smash Victoria.

Conditions on roads around the Ballarat region are also affected, with 36.2mm of rain captured at the Bureau of Meteorology's official weather station at Ballarat Airport, Mitchell Park.

The heavy rain has caused water to impact several roads, including Gillies Street, between Sturt Street and the Ballarat Specialist School.

Other City of Ballarat roads that are closed include:

The Department of Transport has also advised of a number of other road closures outside of Ballarat.

The Western Freeway off-ramp for Melbourne traffic heading into Ballan has been closed due to flooding.

People approaching Ballan from the east should instead drive past the roadhouse and enter the town via Ballan-Daylesford Road.

The entire length of the Ballan-Daylesford Road has also been closed due to flooding as is the Daylesford-Trentham Road.

On top of that, the Daylesford-Malmsbury Road is blocked due to fallen trees. The Midland Highway to Ballarat and also to Castlemaine remain open at this stage.

Ballarat-Carngham Road is closed west of Whites Road at Bunkers Hill.

Part of Carngham-Linton Road - north of Sanke Valley - is also cut off due to flooding.

Other closures include:

"We remind motorists, cyclists and pedestrians of the avoidable dangers of entering floodwater. The water could be deeper than expected and the road surface may be compromised. When encountering flooding or a Road Closed sign, motorists must turn around find an alternative route." a statement from the Department of Transport said.

"Other potential hazards include fallen trees or branches, landslips and power failures taking out traffic signals.

Motorists are reminded to slow down in the wet, to be extra-vigilant when behind the wheel and to leave extra space between themselves and the car in front, as braking distances increase in wet conditions."

Drivers are also urged to turn on headlights to "help see and be seen."

If the rain becomes too heavy for wipers to cope, we suggest pulling over safely away from floodwater and waiting for the rain to pass.

Real-time traffic conditions are available at traffic.vicroads.vic.gov.au or via the VicTraffic mobile app. The latest public transport information and network status is available at ptv.vic.gov.au or in the PTV mobile app.

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