Dire warnings urging Melburnians to prepare for a super storm that could put lives at risk were appropriate, even though the worst of the storm missed the city and instead drenched the state's north-east, the Victorian head of the weather bureau says.
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The super storm dumped up to 200mm of rain near Euroa, about 175km north-east of Melbourne, as officials urged residents in the township, as well as further east in Myrtleford, to consider evacuating.
But there was no flooding overnight in the metro region, despite the serious warnings prompting officials to cancel major events, businesses to prepare for major flooding, and even workers to leave the city early on Friday upon the urging of the state's premier.
State weather bureau manager Dr Andrew Tupper said they would do it again if faced with a similar weather pattern.
"I'm quite satisfied that the event is pretty much as we described - it's just a bit of a bonus that Melbourne itself hasn't been impacted as much," he said from the State Control Centre on Saturday morning.
Coming up with an accurate weather prediction up to four days in advance of a storm was always difficult, he said, and not unlike forecasting the location and speed of a tropical cyclone, where forecasts can often change.
"The way that this has panned out is essentially very similar to what we were predicting," he said.
"I guess the good news is, from the Melbourne perspective in particular and those in western Victoria, the event hasn't affected that area as much.
"But, despite all the disruption of preparation - we know that events have been cancelled and people have put in a lot of work - it was certainly the kind of event worth preparing for.
"So, if we had our time again, yes, we would put out an event with similar language to that."
On Thursday, Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Scott Williams warned: "It is an event that poses a threat to life, there will be a massive amount of lightning, there will be roads cut, flood waters."
"Half the inhabitants of Melbourne have probably never seen something like this," Mr Williams said.
"This is a vast, intense, high impact event for this state."
Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley said Melbourne dodged the worst of the storm with no reports of flooding in the metro area. But it was still appropriate to issue warnings for the entire state, he said.
"We've done, with the forecast that was put to us, the best we can to warn the whole of the Victorian community, because there was rain across Victoria, and I think we've done that," he said.
"We've seen rain move across Victoria - and in some cases exactly what the forecast said, in others it hasn't been exactly. However, I think the figures that are there today show that we've had significant rain."
Premier Daniel Andrews said while the worst of the storm passed Melbourne, some of the rainfall totals in the north-east were an entire summers' worth of rain in an 24 hour period.
"That is unprecedented and it really has put a significant strain on many different communities," he said.
Melbourne residents have been warned to expect between 20 to 40mm of rain on Saturday evening into Sunday morning, bringing the risk of flash flooding.
