By Luke Voogt
Flash flooding forced the closure of several Geelong roads as torrential rains drenched the city Monday night.
The Bureau of Meteorology recorded 44.2mm of rainfall overnight in Geelong, but City Hall reported private readings as high as 60mm in Grovedale and Highton.
SES crews responded to more than 250 requests for assistance in Geelong, the Bellarine and Surf Coast, including several car and house rescues.
South Barwon SES’s Scott Clarke said it was disappointing crews still had to rescue people from cars.
“There were quite a few car rescues when the storm hit for incidents that were avoidable. That delayed us attending building-damage jobs and tied up our resources.”
“The message is clearly out there to not drive through flooded roads but motorists continue to do it, putting their lives and those of emergency services personal at risk.”
City Hall crews closed roads at Belmont, Grovedale and Marshall, including Reserve, Barwarre and Barwon Heads roads and Kidman Avenue.
The rains flooded a number of buildings including the Bellarine Aquatic and Sports Centre and Boorai Centre in Ocean Grove, Geelong West Library and Geelong Bowling Lanes in Belmont.
Water entering from over-flowing gutters caused the ceiling to cave in at the bowling alley, a spokesperson said
An initial City Hall assessment indicated the worst hit areas were Grovedale, Belmont, Geelong CBD, and the Bellarine Penisula.
City Hall also called off a number of sports and activities, particularly indoors, due to flooding.
Geelong Weather expert Lindsay Smail said this April was the second wettest in the city’s history since records began in 1871.
Geelong recorded its highest April rainfall of 182mm in 2001.
“We’ve had about 140mm this month so we probably won’t reach the record but it’s been wet enough,” he said.
Mr Smail said the amount was 100mm above the average for April.
“It’s about three and a half month’s of worth of rain and I think about half of it was in my garage. We had 55mm in Grovedale last night and approximately half of that fell in 90 minutes.”
