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Melbourne street pelted by hail stones - Source: ONE News -
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Hundreds of Australian emergency workers will today begin to mop up the mess wrought by wild weather that ripped through Melbourne on Christmas Day.
An estimated 300 to 400 SES volunteers will be out in force for at least the next two days to clean up after Sunday's series of storms, which brought huge hailstones, torrential rain, flash flooding and even a tornado, prompting 3000 distress calls.
SES spokesman Lachlan Quick said 15 SES crews from western Victoria would be drafted in on Monday to help with the clean-up in the north and northwest parts of the state.
"They're out getting allocated to jobs now and they'll be there at least another two days," Quick said.
As of this morning an estimated 2000 requests for help remained outstanding.
The damage was caused by large hail which pelted the northwest and northeastern suburbs. The areas of Taylors Lakes, Keilor, Eltham, Greensborough and Keilor Downs were the hardest hit.
Fifteen of the 20 emergency calls relating to flash flooding came from Eltham.
Quick said the hail had punched holes in roofs, skylights and windows, leaving buildings more exposed to the ensuing round of storms.
"The next four of five thunderstorms that swept through have all hit the same areas, unfortunately, which meant there was a lot more building damage as a result of the holes already punched in those buildings," he said.
"I'd anticipate the clean-up to take at least two days, if not longer, simply because of the sheer number of jobs and type of damage."
The SES, which on Sunday relied on 250-300 volunteers, also had to rescue people from 20 cars caught up in the flash-flooding of roads during the storms.
Strong winds and lightning forced the diversion of international and domestic flights at Melbourne Airport, while planes that had been due to fly out were grounded.
Early today moderate flood warnings were in place for the Merri Creek at Coburg, in Melbourne's north, and for the Watts River at Healesville.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology was predicting drizzle with a top of 23C for Melbourne for the start of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.
The chance of thunderstorms over the eastern suburbs was forecast for early in the morning, with sunny breaks mid-afternoon.
Severe thunderstorms to lash NSW south
Severe thunderstorms are expected to lash much of Australia's New South Wales, with rain, hail and wind set to push out Christmas Day's sunny weather.
In Sydney the sunny skies experienced on Christmas Day are expected to dwindle with a 90% chance of rain predicted for today, and between three to 10mm is likely to fall.
Scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms are expected to develop from midday, with northeasterly winds averaging up to 20km/h in the west and 30km/h near the coast.
Later in the evening a gusty southerly change is forecast, with winds reaching 40km/h near the coast.
Hazardous surf conditions are also forecast for the Sydney region.
Large hailstones, very heavy rainfall, flash flooding and damaging winds have been warned for Sunday overnight in places including Orange, Dubbo, Wagga Wagga, Albury, Deniliquin and Cobar.
The warning was issued for the Riverina, Lower Western, Snowy Mountains and parts of the Illawarra, South Coast, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands, Central West Slopes and Plains, South West Slopes and Upper Western Forecast Districts.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said that warnings for the ACT were cancelled.
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