Parts of Victoria hit with a month's worth of rain in a day as cyclone menaces north

Seventeen people have been rescued by helicopter and 100 people are stranded in their cars on a flooded Hume Highway in northeast Victoria.

A pedestrian walks along a flooded street
in the south of Melbourne on Thursday.

With more than a month’s worth of rain already fallen across parts of northeast Victoria as wild weather rages across the state, authorities say some people have not heeded warnings about driving into floodwaters.

“We’ve seen people that have had to be rescued from the roofs of their cars, 17 people in total, and 100 people have been stranded just to the south of Wangaratta,” Victoria State Emergency Service chief officer Tim Wiebusch told reporters.

Read the story from The Guardian by Australian Associated Press - “Parts of Victoria hit with a month's worth of rain in a day as cyclone menaces north.”