Powerful thunderstorms, accompanied by intense rainfall and fierce winds, are sweeping across vast regions of Victoria. Officials are urging locals to find safety amidst these hazardous weather conditions.

In Melbourne, thousands of residences have been plunged into darkness after a series of storms hit the city on Tuesday afternoon. The State Emergency Service (SES) is inundated with requests for assistance as strong winds and heavy rain wreak havoc on homes.

Severe thunderstorm alerts have been issued for suburbs in the north, east, and south, with some residents advised to stay indoors for their safety.

The storm has left numerous homes without electricity, and rivers such as the Werribee, Yarra, and Bunyip have spilled over their banks.

Although the most intense part of the storm has moved beyond the city, additional showers and thunderstorms are predicted to return throughout the night.

Currently, a severe thunderstorm warning is active for various districts in Victoria, including Central, East Gippsland, Mallee, Northern Country, North Central, and North East. Residents should brace for severe weather conditions, including heavy rain. The Bureau of Meteorology indicates that damaging winds and sizable hailstones remain a threat.

The bureau asked residents of Seymour, Castlemaine, Kyneton, Kilmore and surrounds to stay in doors, with residents urged to remain indoors as intense rainfall, damaging winds and life-threatening floods lashed the region.

“You are in danger,” Victoria’s State Emergency Service said to people in those regions.

Victoria’s State Emergency Service received nearly 230 requests for assistance across the day, with 56 still active on Tuesday evening, a spokesperson told AAP.

More than half related to building damage or fallen trees, while 70 resulted from floods.

“These thunderstorms are very dangerous,” Vic Emergency said.

Nearly 27mm of rain was recorded at Kyabram, about 200km north of Melbourne, in the 30 minutes leading to 6.45pm.

It followed an earlier warning to 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.

A flood watch was in place for central and eastern Victoria on Tuesday afternoon, including river catchments in the Melbourne area.

A warning was 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.

The drenching in the south comes as Australia’s parched interior braced 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.

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