THE heavens have opened, soaking Echuca-Moama with two months’ worth of rain in one night.
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More than 60 mm fell in the twin towns in the 24 hours to 9 am Thursday, double the average rainfall for March — and it's only the first week of the month.
The 24-hour total is also the second-highest daily rainfall in eight years; 94 mm fell on March 1, 2012.
And some farmers are recording even higher rainfall figures.
Brendon Nicholson's Girgarre farm welcomed 85 mm on Thursday morning and the rain hadn't stopped.
“I can't remember a better autumn break than this,” the farmer of 30 years said.
“To get 85 mm at the start of March is enormous.
“It's an unbelievable feeling.
“There'll be some very happy farmers today.”
The dairy farmer "took a punt" and sowed 20 hectares of rye-grass in the past few days.
“I was going to start watering in the next 10 days but then the rain fell,” he said.
“We watered twice in spring and haven’t watered since, so we held our 300 megalitres of permanent water over.
‘‘We dried the farm off to stockpile the water for autumn, so this rain has saved us from using it.
‘‘The rain we just received is probably worth about $100,000.”
Mr Nicholson, who milks 120 cows on 200 ha, said he had recently sold most of his cattle after a tough few years.
“I used to have 500 cows but I made a decision in spring to sell them to take the risk out of the season,” he said.
“I hope to milk 150 by spring.
“This rain is enough for an autumn break, so I'll just have to wait until it gets dry enough to get some more sown over the next two to three weeks and then hope for some follow-up rain."
While the rain was a welcome relief for most, it caused a few issues for others.
Echuca SES unit received four calls for help due to storm damage.
On Wednesday night, members were called to remove a tree down on a road at Kanyapella, and to property on Murray Valley Hwy to help the occupants prepare for water damage.
Unit controller Judi Cantwell said the unit also received two calls to help residents with water leaks on Thursday morning.
“We had a fair bit of rain overnight,” she said.
“I live out at Wharparilla and I thought the water was going to come in the house.”
The rain caused flooding in some areas, including Echuca's Sturt St where sections of the street were underwater.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Echuca had one of the highest rainfall totals in the area.
“Widespread, towns have had 25 mm to 60 mm of rain,” a spokesperson said.
“There were a number of isolated towns that got 70 mm to 90 mm and a couple of places exceeded 100 mm.”
No rain is predicted for today and the weekend, with sunny skies and temperatures expected to reach 24°C.
15°C