Christmas Day storms have smashed multiple states.
There are currently severe thunderstorm warnings in place across parts of New South Wales, while storms are continuing across southeast Queensland and have passed through parts of Victoria, bringing heavy downpours.
The Sydney metropolitan area suffered the most after those severe thunderstorms, with water coming up so rapidly it took residents completely by surprise.
Sydney Airport was left submerged as more than 100mm of rainfall poured on staff, baggage handlers and passengers attempting to navigate the airport while flights were forced to be grounded or delayed.
While Christmas Eve flights were disrupted, SES volunteers went door to door assisting trapped locals and rescued 22 people from flood waters across the city.
Some residents were trapped in their cars in the waters while others were forced to abandon their vehicle and seek shelter.
“My whole car is underwater, finally just drained it out now and I don’t think we can save it,” one Pagewood resident told 9News.
Many residents in Rosebery were given no warning to get their cars to higher ground, leaving some picked up, moved and damaged by the storm – a Christmas present no-one asked for.
Victorians had been warned to expect a cool and wet Christmas but the force with which the rain hit still took many off guard.
Victoria’s SES received almost 800 calls for help across the state since 5pm on Christmas Eve.
Thousands of Shepparton homes were without power on Christmas Eve, while parts of the state’s north-west were inundated by flash flooding today.
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Some were even forced to abandon car in floodwaters on Melbourne’s northern fringe on Christmas morning.
As daylight broke in the state’s north-west, roads quickly became impassable and emergency bosses issued an urgent Christmas Day warning for those in Wedderburn and St Arnaud to stay indoors.
Local Maddi watched the football ground at Wedderburn disappear under murky brown waters as the town north east of Melbourne copped the brunt of the downpours.
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The first of hundreds of calls for help started in Shepparton last night, with ferocious winds knocking out power to 20,000 homes at its peak.
“There certainly were some damaging wind gusts around that part of the state, topped yesterday evening around 95 km an hour in Shepparton,” Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Angus Hines said.
This afternoon’s storms in Victoria hit around 3pm with 30mm falling in Frankston in just under an hour, inundating family homes and backyards.
As concentrated storm cells continued to move across the state emergency volunteers were bracing for more calls, with fallen trees and caved roofs making it a Christmas, few will forget.
Meanwhile, across in Western Australia, there are fire weather warnings across many parts of the state.
