By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
Geelong faces a damage bill in the millions of dollars after Wednesday’s freak storm caused widespread flash flooding.
The Insurance Council of Australia said insurers had received more than 3000 claims by Thursday.
The storm cell hit suburbs all over the city, dumping twice Geelong’s average January rain in two hours.
The most rain was in the first hour, between 3pm and 4pm, said Geelong Weather Services’s Lindsay Smail.
He had reports of 81mm of rain at Manifold Heights, 78mm at Highton and 65mm at Herne Hill and Hamlyn Heights.
Geelong’s monthly January average rain was 39.4mm, Mr Smail said.
“It was a slow-moving, isolated super cell from the north-west where an upper-low and a trough from the south-west combined.
“It’s reasonably unusual for a severe storm like this to move so slowly.”
Mr Smail said winds in the super cell swirled around from the east and south-east, causing damage to properties from the opposite direction of the storm.
“Some areas received hail damage, mainly in western suburbs that got the high rain falls.
“That puts it in the severe storm category.”
Mr Smail said it was the worst summer storms since 27 January 2005 when 100mm was recorded in 24 hours.
Some Geelong roads became virtual rivers, stranding motorists and swamping vehicles.
Police battled to keep up with directing traffic around danger areas as road crews struggled to post warning signs.
Johnstone Park became a 10-metre deep lake around its bandstand, while the storm affected railway signals and slowed train movements.
City eateries Café Lorae and Beside the Point were flooded and staff at Cotton On’s North Geelong head office were evacuated due to flooding.
Blower-dryers were in high demand yesterday as homes and businesses tried to remove excess water.
Power failures affected thousands of properties, including 4400 at Highton and Newtown.
Emergency crews rescued a 19-year-old after a fallen tree hit her car and trapped her at Hamlyn Heights.
A man was taken to hospital in a stable condition with a burn to his elbow after a lightning strike at Highton.
Storm damage delayed the start of 2016 classes at some schools including Western Heights, Montpellier primary and Clairveux.
WKK Insurance Advisors’s Jaimie Keys said his firm was “inundated” with calls from clients for both commercial and domestic water damage throughout Geelong.
“Everyone has been hit and it’s all hands on deck,” Mr Keys said.
“We have one client in Pakington Street, Geelong West, who had 37cm of water go through their property.
“We have reports of rivers of water going through businesses.”
Geelong Insurance Brokers’s Nick Meulblok reported “non-stop calls” from clients checking insurance coverage.
“The number of claims will only keep growing. It seems the storm was widespread and everyone got hit,” Mr Meulblok said.
“The claims, as you would expect, are mainly for water damage through roofs, with garages and houses flooded and lots of carpet damage.
“At times like this the insurance companies respond as quickly as possible and will set up an emergency facility.
“But people seem to be taking it really well, on the whole.”
See photos and videos at ‘GEELONG REACTS TO FLASH FLOODING’.
