City flood chaos, hail like snow after freak storm
Quote:
HAIL has blanketed Melbourne like snow as a severe thunderstorm ripped through the city, forcing the cancellation of horse racing and sporting events.
Nineteen millimetres of rain bucketed down over the city in less than 18 minutes this afternoon, the weather bureau said.
The huge storm cell, which hit about 2.40pm (AEDT), resulted in a total of 26 millimetres of rain in Melbourne in less an hour, bringing emergency services to a grinding halt as reports of flooding came in from across the city.
"It was a very dangerous thunderstorm," said the bureau's senior forecaster Richard Carlyon.
"We don't often see storm cells like that."
Hail pummelled city streets and brought traffic to a standstill, with some residents reporting hail stones as big as 5cm.
The storm forced the cancellation of the NAB Cup footy game between Brisbane and Geelong.
Flemington's Super Saturday races were also postponed as rain poured down the stairs at the grandstand like a waterfall.
"It was very dark and all of a sudden it was like a hurricane or a howling wind came through," said Josh Bell, who was in the member's grandstand when the storm hit.
"Marble sized hail stones came down for about 10 minutes.
"The track was covered in hail. It was all white. It looked like it had snowed."
The rain continued for about 30 minutes, overpowering the sewerage system and forcing the water down the grandstand's public stairs.
"One of our concerns is there's another one (storm) on the way and at the moment the track's just not up to safe racing," Racing Victoria's chief steward Terry Bailey told Channel 7 after the race was rescheduled to next weekend.
The weather bureau is forecasting further storms to strike the city in the coming hours.
The State Emergency Service has been swamped with calls, primarily from the city's western suburbs.
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Yay, finally something interesting for once happens in a city that's so dull that it will make you want to watch paint dry for something to do. Sadly, I was nowhere near the CBD, but I did get some flickering lights during the storm with thunder rumbling everything at home.