Marble-sized hailstones bring Melbourne to standstill - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

A thunderstorm with hail-stones ripped through Melbourne and paralyzed life on Saturday, flooding the city's streets and halting traffic. According to the weather bureau, the huge storm cell resulted in a total of 26 millimeters of rain in less an hour, bringing emergency services to a grinding halt as reports of flooding came in from across the city. "It was a very dangerous thunderstorm. We don't often see storm cells like that," News.com.au quoted Richard Carlyon, the bureau's senior forecaster, as saying. Hail between two and five centimeters has been reported in several Melbourne suburbs including North Melbourne , Ascot Vale and Melton, and hail up to 10 centimeters has fallen in Ferntree Gully, the bureau added. "It was very dark and all of a sudden it was like a hurricane or a howling wind came through. Marble sized hailstones came down for about 10 minutes," Josh Bell, a local said. The weather bureau is forecasting further storms to strike the city in the coming hours.