Millions in firing line as storms unleash flash floods

William Ton, Robyn Wuth and Allanah Sciberras | February 24, 2026

Life-threatening flash flooding and dangerous thunderstorms are strengthening over a major city, as ominous dark skies and downpours spark emergency shelter warnings.

Severe and dangerous thunderstorms that formed over Melbourne’s west and northwest and outer northeastern suburbs have converged into a massive single cell, bringing intense rainfall that could lead to life-threatening flash flooding, VicEmergency warns.

Authorities urged people in areas including, Glen Waverley, Ringwood, Mill Park, Bundoora, Dandenong, Belgrave, Berwick and the area east and south of Pakenham towards Koo Wee Rup and Poowong to move indoors immediately.

“You are in danger,” they said on Tuesday afternoon.

Millions of Victorians are in the firing line of the wild weather, which could trigger six-hour rainfall totals of between 40 to 70 millimetres.

Thousands of households across the city have been left without power, while rivers including the Werribee, Yarra and Bunyip are overflowing.

Residents should remain on alert to flash flooding, Victoria State Emergency Service spokesperson Josh Gamble told AAP. 

A flood watch is in place for central and eastern Victoria, including river catchments in the Melbourne area.

“Flash flooding happens fast. Roads can become very dangerous very quickly. It’s deeper than it looks,” he said.

“Low-lying and creekside communities (should be) on alert, particularly those that are known in those flash-flood areas in and around the Melbourne areas.”

A warning has also been issued for towns within fire-affected grounds, with authorities warning burnt land does not absorb water effectively, meaning runoff can occur quickly and without warning.

“We’ve got some concerns, particularly around the fire grounds with increased fast runoff and flash-flooding risks,” Mr Gamble said. 

The drenching in the south comes as Australia’s parched interior braces for wild weather from a storm band lingering over the nation’s usually dry, red heart. 

Rail services have been affected, roads are cut off and freight deliveries stranded as hundreds of millimetres of rain inundate multiple states.

A slow-moving tropical low is causing havoc across central Australia, with heavy falls and damaging winds reported across the Northern Territory. 

Some of the heaviest falls from Monday through to early Tuesday were in the NT, with 79mm at the Granites in the Tanami Desert.

But only sparse data was available in central Australia due to limited rain gauges, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

“It is certainly possible that heavier falls were observed through parts of central Australia that we didn’t pick up in the weather stations,” senior forecaster Angus Hines told AAP.

“There are still severe weather warnings for heavy to locally intense rainfall in place – and they’re really large warning areas as well.”

They extend from central NT through the Simpson and Barclay Desert areas into southwest Queensland’s Channel Country, South Australia’s northeast and NSW’s northwest.

In Alice Springs, sandbagging stations have opened before potentially record falls, with up to 60mm of rain expected on Tuesday. 

In SA, restoration work began on Monday on the East West rail line that links Adelaide to Perth after sections of the track were washed away between McLeay and Bookaloo.

Flood watches extend from Queensland’s Cape York west to the NT, south to South Australia, and also to parts of NSW’s northwest.