see also:

• history of Melbourne
• major weather events in Australia
• Bushfires
• SES local flood guides

• flooding may be:
  • riverine
    • increased river flows from distant rain events
    • lack of water flow delay mechanisms
  • flash floods from local downpours
    • stormwater trapped by creek levees
    • lack of permeable surface area
    • lack of water flow delay mechanisms
    • inadequate water pumping capacity
    • inadequate drainage
  • tidal

• SES City of Melbourne flood guide
• flash flooding from sudden heavy rain storms is relatively common and tend to impact:
  • lower lying roads such as the Dynon Rd bridge
  • Elizabeth St in the CBD which runs along the site of a creek
• more sustained rain events tend to cause the waterways to break their banks and cause local inundation
  • Maribyrnong River, Anglers Tavern Hotel, Flemington Racecourse
  • Moonee Ponds Creek - Kensington and Nth Melbourne south of Macauley Rd due to local runoff from the hills
    • the area between Nth Melb train station and Macauley train station was once a swamp which was drained in the 19thC but still runs a risk of inundation including residential areas near the current Moonee Ponds Creek
    • significant flood events have occurred 1871, 1891, 1906, 1916, 1924, 1954, 1974 and 1993
    • a 2.8m flood event (1% pa probability) will cause flooding of Hardiman St, Kensington up to Albermarie St
  • Yarra River - this tends to be well mitigated now with the water catchment dams
    • in the past, Collingwood, Richmond, Sth Yarra, Port Melbourne were at risk
• 1839 Yarra River floods for the 1st time on record
• 1860 Yarra River floods
• 1863 Yarra River floods the highest on record to that date
• 1891 Great Flood affected Richmond, Collingwood and Prahran after 48hrs rain
• 1906 Maribyrnong River reached record 5.18m flooding Footscray and Kensington
• 1916 Kensington, Nth Melb
• 1923 Yarra River flooding impacts Hawthorn, Abbotsford, Belgrave and Fern Tree Gully
• 1924
• 1934 48hrs rain dropped 150mm on Melbourne at 330mm in Gippsland, flooding the Yarra River forming a single lake from Warrandyte to South Yarra leaving 6,000 homeless and killing 18 people.
• 1972 75mm burst of rain floods Elizabeth St, CBD
• 1974 May 110mm rain in 48hrs causes 2nd largest flood in Kensington with Maribyrnong River reaching 4.2m and affecting mainly Flemington Racecourse which remained out of action until Oct and initiated real time flood monitoring in the catchment
• 1993 Sept Maribyrnong River reaching 3.83m affecting Kensington
• 2005 Feb
• 2010 Nov Flash flooding in the CBD caused significant property damage; Kensington, Nth Melb
• 2011 Jan flash flooding in Kensington, Nth Melb with water over roads trapping cars in Stubbs Street and Macauley Road. Drains and infrastructure improvements were then implemented and have reduced the risk of a similar flood having the same impact. Maribyrnong River reaching 2.21m;

• 1870 northern Victoria impacted by record floods
• 1909 central and western Victoria, Halls gap and Stawell were evacuated
• 1934 350mm rain fell in south Gippsland over 48hrs
• 1946 Glenelg River floods rising 300mm per hour after 220mm rain over 4 days in the Casterton region
• 2010 widespread heavy rains over 5 days affects most of Victoria
• 2011 western and central Victoria affected by flooding more severe than in 2010
• 2016 western Victoria and the Otways suffer heavy rains resulting in prolonged closure of the Great Ocean Rd due to landslides and rockfalls