Melbourne weather as it happened: Delays at airport after deluge, widespread power outages, building damage, roads flooded; Emergency warnings ease

Thanks for joining us this afternoon. Here’s a wrap-up of the impact of the storms:

• As of 6pm, the storm cell has generated 220 calls for assistance to the State Emergency Service.
• Heidelberg, Craigieburn, Fawkner, Gisborne and Knox are among the areas hardest hit.
• The calls for help relate to a mix of building damage and flooding, as well as trees down over roads.
• Heavy rainfall is continuing in Gippsland, and another storm cell is coming from the state’s north-west towards Broadford.

• The State Control Centre’s Josh Gamble said on the ABC: “We’re still asking the community to stay indoors and monitor those warnings, but also be conscious that the rain that’s in [the storms] could become intense and create flash flooding as well.”

And here are the latest rainfall totals from the Bureau of Meteorology:

• Springhill Road (north of Trentham): 38.4mm (in one hour and 15 minutes)
• Dohertys (south-east of Eildon): 34.4mm
• Gisborne: 32.8mm (31.6mm of this fell in one hour)
• Glencairn (north of Licola): 31.2mm (25mm of this fell in 18 minutes)
• Melbourne Airport 21.4mm (20mm of this fell in 23 minutes)
• Broadmeadows: 21.4mm (17.8mm of this fell in 20 minutes)
• Mount Buffalo: 21mm
• Strathbogie: 20.4mm

Dozens of SES volunteers remain out and about across Melbourne in the aftermath of this afternoon’s storms.

The service has confirmed it’s responded to 142 callouts related to the downpours, and 85 of them are yet to be resolved.

Heidelberg, Heidelberg Heights, Craigieburn, Reservoir and Gisborne were the areas hardest hit.

The threat of storms is now moving further east, although flooding is possible for many rivers across Victoria from tomorrow morning as the rain that fell today makes its way through our catchment systems.

North-east Victoria: 26.8 mm was recorded at Macalister River (Glencairn) in 30 minutes.

Melbourne Airport: 17.2mm in 18 minutes after 2pm.

Trentham: 26mm in 90 minutes after 12.50pm.

Ferny Creek: 13.4mm in 30 minutes after 3pm.

Viewbank: 11.6mm between 2.41pm and 3.30pm.

Trains on the Upfield line are resuming between Batman and Upfield following an equipment fault.

Passengers are asked to check station platform displays, listen for announcements, and to allow extra time as trains get back into position for this afternoon’s peak.

Here’s a quick update on the transport situation elsewhere.

Josh Gamble from the State Control Centre says the number of calls for help to the SES continues to rise, as storms remain active in south-east Melbourne.

Gamble told ABC Melbourne radio that SES volunteers are active in Reservoir, Craigieburn, Gisborne, Pakenham and Heidelberg, as well as in Wodonga, on the NSW border.

“If you look at the last hour or two, we’ve had 32 to 38 [millimetres] in roughly an hour in some of those suburbs,” he said.

“We’ve had 190 requests for assistance today, and that’s from midnight, with 70 active now.”

The last emergency warning has lifted: the threat is reduced for Drouin, Warragul, Poowong and surrounds.

We’ve also got some videos coming in showing the rain from earlier today:

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Drouin, Warragul, Poowong and surrounds.

• Intense rainfall that may lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding is likely.
• A dangerous thunderstorm was detected near the area east of Pakenham and Bunyip at 3.55pm.
• This thunderstorm is moving towards the south-east.
• This emergency warning replaces the warning issued at 3.44pm.

If you are located in Drouin, Warragul, Poowong and surrounds, you are in danger. You should immediately move indoors to stay safe.

The threat from thunderstorms has passed for Melbourne.

It was a dangerous day on Melbourne’s roads even before the storms hit today.

Nine News reports three people are in hospital after a truck slammed into the front of a house in Carnegie around 12.30pm.

It appears the truck hit two cars on its way into the front yard.

More than 50 SES units are out and about responding to the damage done by today’s wild weather.

A spokesperson confirmed that since 6am, there have been 128 calls for help, 45 of them for building damage, 37 for flooding and 20 for trees down.

As of 4pm, 73 of these 128 jobs remain unresolved.

The busiest unit so far has been Heidelberg, where volunteers have been attending to 22 requests for help, followed by Gisborne with nine.

Daniel Hayes, senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology, was just on ABC Radio Melbourne, where he confirmed the storms that hit Melbourne this afternoon are largely clearing.

Emergency warnings remain in place for people in the south-east – including Koo Wee Rup, Lang Lang, Pakenham and Gembrook – to shelter indoors.

“We have seen a few places that have been coming close to that one millimetre per minute,” Hayes said. “There is the potential that we could see some quite significant flash-flooding risk as those thunderstorms continue to move through the areas.”

Gisborne received 32 millimetres of rain in one hour, while in Melbourne’s outer north, Konagaderra received 22 millimetres in half an hour.

Hayes stressed that people shouldn’t drive unless they have to, and should stay away from floodwaters.

Hayes was followed by Powercor’s Emma Tyner, who said the electricity distributor was working to restore power to 4400 customers as of 4pm.

“A few of the larger outages include Port Melbourne, impacting about 2041 customers,” she told radio station 774.

“We’ve still got one around the Thornbury area impacting about 1085 customers, and Northcote 765 customers.”