Australia Weather News

Communities along Victoria's Great Ocean Road are counting the cost after a historic deluge caused "terrifying" flash flooding.

Huge downpours around Wye River and Lorne in Victoria's south-west saw cars swept to sea and people trapped as floodwaters surged through the coastal towns on Thursday afternoon.

A local councillor in the area described the volume of water that built up rapidly as "astounding".

The State Control Centre said 10,000 people in areas along the Great Ocean Road received emergency texts alerting them to the flooding.

A spokesperson said about 200 locals and holiday-makers were displaced from low-lying areas, including caravan parks.

There have not yet been any reports of injuries but SES crews had to assist people stuck in caravans.

Warnings for Kennett River, Wye River and Lorne have been downgraded, but people are being warned there could still be hazards in the area, including floodwater, mud, debris, damaged roads and fallen trees

There was also the potential for landslips.

The rain gauge at Mt Cowley, west of Lorne, recorded more than 180 millimetres of rain in about a four-hour period, smashing the previous daily rainfall record.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said it was a devastating example of the force and targeted nature of some localised rainfall events.

"Watching these storms develop, move through and then dissipate, it was such a localised area hit by this intense rainfall yesterday morning and has been incredibly damaging for some of those holiday-makers and communities across that part of Victoria."

She said another 6 to 15mm of rain was forecast for today.

She said that while there was much less rain than yesterday, the ground was wet and loose, so it could still cause some issues today.

Forest Fire Management Victoria's Chris Hardman is at the State Control Centre this morning.

He has described the rapid flooding as extraordinary.

"With such a dramatic and extreme event occurring over such a short period of time, for folks to be able to get out of the way of those floods and for there not to be any missing people or people injured even … everybody is just eternally grateful," he said.

Mr Hardman said the rain did not fall on the other side of the hill where bushfire that threatened communities earlier in the week continue to burn.

SES chief operations officer Alistair Drayton said emergency services had not seen this level of rain in the region before.

"We've seen significant rainfall that's created a deluge of water coming down those estuaries and we've seen some pretty extreme vision of vehicles that have been washed out," he said.

"We believe there might have been a number of caravans as well … [and with] the debris that's coming down, it's an incredibly dangerous environment."

Residents described the flooding as the worst they had ever seen.

At Separation Creek, the flooded creek cascaded through a property, destroying two bridges.

"We missed being killed probably by about 10 seconds … we just ran for our lives basically," local Peter Jacobs said.

Katie White, a resident of Lorne, about 20 kilometres from Wye River, said the onset of the flooding happened quickly.

"The river level suddenly rose and became turbulent and fast-moving, bringing much debris with it," she said.

Ms White said the downpour occurred in the hinterland rather than in town, leaving people surprised when the floodwater came down from the hills so rapidly.

Wye River's caravan park, situated along the river and next to the ocean, was badly inundated.

The SES there was up to half a metre of mud through the park on Thursday evening, rendering it inaccessible.

Meg Jay and Amy Pollett were in Lorne for lunch while their families were back at the caravan park in Wye River.

Ms Pollett's caravan was swept away in the flooding, and her children lost the new bikes they received for Christmas.

"My husband was apparently in the bathrooms with my four-year-old when he heard my other two kids outside coming up screaming that there was water and it was flooding."

She said they managed to jump in their car and drive to higher ground.

Ms Jay's caravan was surrounded by water, and their car was now stuck up a track after her family also fled.

"Everyone here in Lorne has been amazing. They put us up in accommodation.

"We've got clothes from the op shop."

A community meeting at the nearby Wye River pub, which became a refuge for evacuatees from the caravan park, was held on Thursday evening.

On Thursday evening, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said she was "keeping across emerging updates".

"The footage coming out of Wye River is terrifying," she said.

"I'm thinking of the community and campers along the Great Ocean Road tonight."

The flood-hit area sits at the eastern end of the Otways, not far from the out-of-control Carlisle River bushfire that has been burning to the west since Saturday.

More heavy rain expected

The same weather system that caused the deluge along the Great Ocean Road is now headed towards Gippsland, in Victoria's east.

Mr Hynes said the rainfall in Victoria was fuelled by "extremely high moisture content in the atmosphere that's unusual to see this far south".

"It's very rare to see rain of that intensity across the southern parts of Australia," he said.

He said the weather across Victoria had "at least been influenced a little bit" by ex-Tropical Cyclone Koji in Queensland.

The weather was expected to settle by the weekend, he said.

Mr Drayton urged Victorians to stay alert to conditions.

"We will see significant rainfall. It will be heavy rainfall," he said.

"I ask people to be mindful and, if need be, delay your travels — but know your areas and your risks in those potential flash flood areas."

Caravan park flooded in 10 minutes

The Lorne Foreshore Caravan Park will be closed for several weeks as workers tend to the clean-up and repairs after the flash flood, including replacing the electrical supply.

Manager Harshit Sharma says staff had been receiving warnings about storms and rain during the day, but they had no idea it would be this bad.

"We were monitoring the river since the morning and it was fine and then we got reports of flooding down at Wye River and Skenes Creek," he said.

"Then all of a sudden we saw the water rush down."

He said they immediately began evacuating the park.

"People were definitely panicking, but people were very cooperative."

Tom Jacobs and Charlie Nicholls were on one of their first trips with mates.

Mr Nicholls said the water was waist-deep in some areas of their camp site.

Mr Jacobs said he lost all his possessions.

"The water just took everything," he said.

"It's just a shock. We never thought anything like this would happen."

They sheltered with a family friend who lived nearby last night.

Brenton and Ricardo had travelled from Melbourne and arrived in the middle of the flooding.

"We waited around Aireys Inlet for four hours just to wait for things to calm down. We decided not to cancel our trip because we want to support the local businesses," Brenton said.

"It's incredible how it's gone from bushfire to floods."

They were booked into a hotel that was not flooded out but they had to leave their car on higher ground and enter the coastal town on foot.

Surf Coast Shire councillor Leon Walker said the volume of water that came through was astounding.

Cr Walker said it was lucky the flooding happened during the day instead of sweeping through caravan and camp sites at night.

He said about 200 people turned up to the relief centre, with many offered accommodation elsewhere in town, and another 40 people were sheltering at a local surf club.

"Everyone who volunteers, emergency services, just everyone in the community jumped on, and now it's the recovery stage, so the next steps are getting back on track," he said.

"My car is still full from last week when this time last week … due to extreme fire danger, so it's very ironic that you've got a car full of fire emergency stuff and then we got flooding happening."