Rain, rescue calls and cars swept out to sea: The flooding in Wye River

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For the second time in a week, holidaymakers in regional Victoria are waking up in relief centres – first for bushfires, and now for floods.

On Thursday, tourists at holiday parks in Lorne, Wye River and surrounds on the Great Ocean Road had to frantically evacuate their caravans and tents when a heavy downpour in the hinterland caused flash flooding.

Flooding in Wye River forces a car out to sea on Thursday.

An SES spokesman told this masthead there were more than 160 calls for assistance between midday on Thursday and 6.30am on Friday – including rescue calls for people affected by floods.

In the Barwon South West Region, which includes the Surf Coast, Colac and Otway areas, there were 36 calls for help, 12 for trees down, seven for flooding and five for assisting other agencies.

“There were four rescue calls for people who might have been trapped by the water and needed support,” the spokesman said. “We’ve also had three flood rescues which we supported Victoria Police with. Most of the requests have been cleared, there’s about four active in that region at the moment.”

The spokesman said while there were no exact details on how many cars and structures had been damaged, “dozens of vehicles and caravans” were affected by floodwaters, or were dragged out to sea.

“We’ll have a better understanding for those, as well as the building impacts once assessment crews are on the ground,” he said.

A reduced flash flood warning was issued by the SES overnight. “The threat of flooding is reduced. You can now return to normal activity, but be aware there are hazards that still exist in the warning area,” the warning said.

There are emergency relief centres set up at Lorne’s Stribling Reserve in Otway Street, and at the Apollo Bay P12 College in Pengilley Avenue, however capacity was “limited”.

“Capacity and amenities at these Emergency Relief Centres is limited. Those who are able to leave the region to alternative accommodation are encouraged to do so,” the SES said.

Miriam Bradbury, a senior meteorologist at the weather bureau, said while most rain had fallen on Thursday, people in the flood-affected areas should be mindful of the heavily saturated grounds.

“We could see patchy showers in the area today, down that surf coast, but rainfall totals are not expected to be anywhere near as high as what we saw yesterday,” she said.

“That was driven by a severe thunderstorm bringing intense rain, and we’re not currently expecting any storms in the area … there is a bit of rain on the way, but it should be patchy and significantly less than what we saw yesterday.

“The main thing for campers and communities in that area is that the ground is still really, really saturated and really unstable after yesterday, when so much rain has fallen in a short space of time, and that’s what led to these landslips, as well as the flash flooding. It is still a day to be mindful and to be cautious.”

Despite the heavy rains and flooding emergency along the coast, Bradbury said the showers on Thursday would have had little impact on parts of the state still battling bushfires.

“We have seen some pretty gusty winds overnight, and we are expecting to see some fresh and gusty southerly winds today, so it’s still going to be fairly mild. We’ve got that chance of showers around as well, but the fresh and gusty winds potentially could make conditions a little bit challenging for firefighters on the ground,” she said.

“Unfortunately, the rain we saw yesterday and the bit of rain we might see today will really struggle to reach any of those significant ongoing fires across the state. It’s more likely they’ll get a drop or two reaching the grounds.”

Dramatic footage from the flooded area showed the devastating impact, as the rising tide either swept cars out to sea or crushed them on bridges.

On Thursday evening, police said a man in his 60s was rescued from a roof on the Cumberland River, while an estimated 1500 people were evacuated from the Wye River caravan park.

Hundreds of people visited relief centres set up at Apollo Bay and Lorne across the night, while dozens of home owners across Lorne and Wye River offered up their properties as emergency accommodation for stranded tourists.

The Great Ocean Road remains closed between Fairhaven and Skenes Creek.

The FoodWorks grocery store in Lorne, which was forced to shut its doors until further notice due to flash flooding, is hoping to reopen at 11am.