“As always, pay attention to local conditions and DO NOT drive through flood water – the depth of a pen is enough to float a car!”

Two more cars were caught in flash flooding under the Dudley Street bridge in West Melbourne just before 1pm.

Key roads in Southbank were also drenched, causing flash flooding on City Road, Clarendon Street and the Kings Way entrance to the West Gate Freeway. VicTraffic reported that the M80 ring road in Melbourne’s north was also flooded.

Public Transport Victoria reported significant delays on the Cranbourne and Pakenham routes due to a train disruption and “weather-related issues” near Toorak. An equipment failure near Montmorency led to Metro Trains temporarily suspending services on the Hurstbridge line at around 1pm.

An updated weather bureau warning at 2.07pm adjusted the thunderstorm warning zone to cover much of the Highlands and Gippsland.

Despite the rain, firefighters remained on alert on Sunday afternoon as the storm moved across Gippsland, bringing dozens of lightning strikes.

Just before 3.30pm, a caution warning was issued for a bushfire in the Kangaroo Swamp Nature Conservation Reserve that was spreading out of control towards Giffard West, a hamlet about 30 kilometers south of Sale.

In a Facebook post, the Valencia Creek CFA in Gippsland said a lightning strike had ignited a small fire in the state forest overnight, but it was expected to be contained by Sunday.

“Further thunderstorms are forecast, so keep up to date with the situation via the VicEmergency app or website,” the brigade said.

In Geelong, another storm cell caused dozens of lightning strikes on Sunday morning, according to Weatherzone radar.

Thousands of Victorians suffered unplanned power outages as the wild weather wreaked havoc.

In Melbourne’s northwest, Jemena reported 4,029 customers were without power early Sunday afternoon. After 3 p.m., 942 customers remained without power.

Scienceworks said on social media that it had to close early on Sunday following a power outage in Spotswood.

In Melbourne’s southeast, United Energy reported 1,623 customers without power at around 3.15pm, including outages in Cranbourne South, Mount Waverley and Box Hill South.

In western Victoria and central Melbourne, Powercor reported 2431 unscheduled customers were missing deliveries at 3.23pm.

In eastern Victoria, AusNet reported about 4,600 customers without power at 3:25 p.m.

The weather bureau forecast high temperatures of 27 degrees in Melbourne on Sunday and said up to 20 millimeters of rain was possible. But at 3:30 p.m., 29.2 millimeters had already fallen in the Olympic Park since 9 a.m.

No formal warning was active when the storms hit the CBD around midday.

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