Victoria and NSW are braced for more wild weather as the cold snap gripping Australia’s east coast continues.
Severe weather warnings are in place in both states, which have seen significant falls of snow and rain in recent days.
In Melbourne, the State Emergency Service responded to almost 100 calls for help overnight after the wettest July day in Victoria since 1990.
“The downpour left many with leaking ceilings and water in roofs, particularly in the Melbourne and Broadmeadows region,” SES spokeswoman Sally Lowenstein said.
Rain and strong winds are expected to continue across Victoria until the weekend, with East Gippsland expected to get up to 100mm of rain on Monday as an intense low pressure system forms in the Tasman Sea.
A severe weather warning is in place for the East Gippsland district, with winds gusting up to 100km/h and flash flooding possible.
Flood watches are current for the Greater Melbourne and East Gippsland catchments, and there’s a warning for minor to moderate flooding in the Cann and Genoa rivers in the far east of the state.
The low will also drive strong southerly winds and rain into southern and mountain districts.
Victoria’s alpine resorts are revelling in the cold weather, with between 5 and 10cm of snow expected across alpine regions every day this week.
In NSW, snow and icy conditions have forced the closure of several major routes, including parts of the Great Western Highway and the New England Highway.
Snow has also fallen along the Great Dividing Range from the Snowy Mountains in the south to Tenterfield on the NSW-Queensland border, with more falls expected on Monday in Armidale and Glen Innes in the northwest.
Sydneysiders face another chilly day, with northwesterly winds gusting to 60km/h to make it seem much colder than Monday’s expected top temperature of 18 degrees Celsius.
NSW alpine resorts are also happy with the snow dumps they’ve seen, and up to a metre of snow is expected to fall by the end of the week.
In Queensland, there have been reports of a very light dusting of snow at Eukey, south of Stanthorpe, in the southern Darling Downs.
The coldest place in the state early on Monday was the central Queensland town of Thangool, near Biloela, where the mercury was sitting on -1.3 degrees at about 6.30am.
Brisbane got down to 8.4 degrees. The city is expected to reach 16 degrees on Monday but westerly winds mean it will seem much colder.
