|

Severe hailstorm hits Melbourne’s outer suburbs, Australia

ByJulie Celestial
severe-hailstorm-melbourne-australia-january-2020

Image credit: @pjmacaulay/Twitter

Parts of Melbourne's outer suburbs were pelted with hailstones up to 5 cm (2 inches) in diameter on Sunday, January 19, 2020, after thunderstorms quickly moved across much of southern Victoria, bringing strong winds and heavy rain.

Hailstones almost the size of a golfball were reported in eastern suburb Glen Iris, while fire-hit catchments in north-eastern Victoria and East Gippsland were put under a flood watch.

The storm damaged cars, houses, ceilings, and brought traffic to a standstill. The severe weather came after firefighters were withdrawn from fire zones on Sunday, amid fears of flash flooding in fire-ravaged areas.

While storms have brought much-needed rain and humidity into areas affected by fire, strong winds are feared to knock down trees that might result in landslides and send debris onto roads.

The Bureau of Meteorology said 30 to 50 mm (1 to 2 inches) of rain are expected until Tuesday, January 21, with some areas experiencing up to 150 mm (6 inches). The warning came as 14 fires continued to rage throughout Victoria. According to authorities, as of Sunday, 396 homes and 614 outbuildings had been lost.

    This author does not have any more posts.
Share:

Published in the last 24 hours

  1. Flying glass cut a teacher in Russia but none of her 44 pupils, because when a meteor flashed across the sky in 2013, she told them to get under their desks Epicenter
  2. A South Dakota man put the widest and heaviest hailstone on US record in his freezer, and a power cut melted part of it before NOAA measured it at 8 inches across and nearly 2 pounds in 2010 Epicenter
  3. Black kites and brown falcons in northern Australia have been seen snatching smoldering sticks from wildfires, flying them into unburned grass and dropping them, starting new fires that send lizards, rodents and insects running straight toward the waiting birds Epicenter
  4. A levee protecting a highway north of San Francisco is pocked with animal burrows and only 3 feet wide in places, and a report warns this winter's El Niño could push water over the top Epicenter

From around the web