source : the age
Nearly two dozen drivers have been stranded along the Princes Highway after a pothole damaged car tyres during a heavy deluge of rain and wild weather across Victoria.
The vehicles were forced to pull over after hitting the pothole on the major arterial road near the rural town of Bunyip in Gippsland. Some drivers were forced to change their tyres.
Transport Victoria spokesman Andrew Crook said the highway remained open in both directions but drivers should allow more travelling time due to heavy congestion.
Witness Gary was driving along the Princes Highway on Monday morning when he passed the pothole.
“About 15 kilometres thereafter, cars were pulled over with damaged rims,” Gary told ABC radio Melbourne.
“I’ve never ever seen anything like it. It was shocking. As you approached, I thought there was a major accident.”
Footage posted on social media sites shows at last 20 cars pulled over to the side of the road and traffic response teams assisting drivers.
Monday is set to be the wettest and windiest day of this week, with rain easing on Tuesday. Another cold front is due to hit on Wednesday, when there will be noticeable changes in air temperature, a Bureau of Meteorology spokesperson said.
More rain will shower the state on Friday.
Rutherglen, in the state’s north-east, recorded 51 millimetres of rain overnight – the most rain to hit the town in a 24-hour period in 114 years.
The weather station of Hunters Hill, located along the Murray River near Towong, received more than 87 millimetres of rain in the same period, breaking a 21-year record, while Bendigo had its wettest August day in 36 years.
There was plenty of rain over the alpine region overnight, but it wasn’t cold enough to fall as snow. Some snowfall is predicted to fall later on Monday.
“The snow hasn’t been as good as expected, even with high rainfall totals over the area, it has mostly fallen as rain,” a Bureau of Meteorology spokesperson said.
The SES responded to 158 requests for assistance over the past 24 hours, mostly for downed trees. There were also several flood rescues amid flood warnings issued across the state.
The Hume region has been hit the hardest by the wild weather, an SES spokesperson said.
“With rainfall continuing into the day and river levels rising, we’re asking people to remain vigilant and to never enter flood water,” a spokesperson said.
The SES and the BOM have issued several warnings for floods, mostly across the Hume region, and damaging winds in the alpine areas with peak gusts of up to 100km/h possible.
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