A shopping centre ceiling has collapsed above horrified shoppers after a destructive storm tore through Victoria as the state’s emergency services warned locals to urgently find shelter.
The Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre in Point Cook, in Melbourne‘s south west, was forced to close on Friday afternoon because of the dramatic incident which happened as torrential rain, dangerous winds and ‘giant hail’ smashed the city.
Footage uploaded to social media shows water dripping from the shopping centre ceiling moments beforehand, while shoppers can be heard talking.
The ceiling of Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre in Point Cook, south west Melbourne, collapsed above horrified shoppers after storms tore through Victoria (Pictured, the ceiling caves in)
Stormwater accumulated in the roof immediately deluged the centre after the ceiling collapse
Then a huge section of the ceiling falls to the floor, pushed in by a huge surge of water that immediately floods the centre.
Shoppers are heard gasping and screaming in the footage.
It is not known if anyone was injured in the ceiling collapse, but the area south west of Melbourne was under siege due to the dangerous weather.
Victoria’s emergency services issued an urgent warning to people at nearby Weribee to ‘shelter indoors now’ because of the storm.
The social media alert warned people around ‘Port Phillip waters, Inner, Outer East, Western and Geelong and Bellarine Peninsula’ of ‘destructive winds, giant hailstones and heavy rainfall’.
Roads at Laverton were quickly underwater and flash flooding was widespread in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
Earlier a severe thunderstorm warning was issued.
Source: Daily Mail
