Mayhem in Melbourne

Yesterday started off normal enough. John and I moved his things into his new home and then we went to the city for a nice lamb souvlaki lunch. We then went to the Spencer St Direct Factory Outlet (DFO) to buy some work shirts for John. We were waiting for coffee at Starbucks after shopping when we heard what sounded like trolleys being trundled past us. We looked around but couldn't see any trolleys. It turned out to be hail pummeling the zinc roof of DFO.

The Starbucks we were in was just at the entrance of DFO so we got a good view of the heavy hail flying diagonally. In DFO we saw the water pouring in through the roof and running down one of the pillars. The lights were then switched off because water was even coming through the light fixtures. Ironically, just less than half an hour before the storm hit I remarked to John "I wonder if this place leaks when it rains".

DFO was evacuated so we made our way to Southern Cross Station to take the train home. When we got there we realised that the station had been closed and commuters were being evacuated. We only saw why when we were trying to wait for the rain to abate. The storm had been so violent that part of the roof of the station had collapsed under the weight of the hail. Hail was scattered across a few platforms and even spilled onto the rail tracks.







I was enthusiastically taking photos when John pointed to the roof and dragged me away. Southern Cross Station's roof is architecturally unique in that it has a wavy shape and is translucent. The hail had gathered in one of the roof's dips and I happened to be standing right beneath it. I took a photo of it from a safer spot.



When the rain was not as heavy, we thought we would try to catch a tram to one of the other train stations. The screens at the tram stops usually indicate the estimated arrival of the trams. This time all that was shown next to the name of the tram routes were dashes so we decided to walk to Flinders St Station.

The streets were strewn with hail and bits of leaves and tree branches. The hail had literally shredded the leaves off the trees. It was surreal walking up Bourke St at the time. Ambulances, fire trucks and police cars were racing in all directions with sirens blaring. Alarms on some of the buildings were also going off.

As we got to the shops along Elizabeth St, we realized that a number of the shops roofs had given way too. Shopkeepers were sweeping the water out their front doors and cleaning up the best they could.

We finally made it to Flinders St and were about to take the Degraves entrance only to find the underground path was flooded. It is a good thing that the main entrance was all right. We were so relieved to get a train home. From the train we got a good view of the extent of the flooding. The Yarra river had risen at least two feet, if not more and was lapping at the base of the benches on its banks.

My brother was home throughout the storm and said that the hail in our area was the size of golf balls. I never expected to see this much hail on our deck ever.



We were considerably lucky. Apart from one or two leaking windows, we were all right. Our neighbours were not so lucky. The hail broke their window.



Apparently there is going to be a similar storm today. My brother, his girlfriend, John and I are all hiding indoors. Yesterday was an adventure but I don't think we want to repeat the experience for a while.