Screaming customers run for cover as shopping centre roof collapses while storms and heavy winds batter parts of Victoria
- Ceiling inside shopping centre in south west Melbourne collapsed on Friday
- A destructive weather system which included ‘giant hail’ hit Melbourne’s west
- Horrified shoppers heard screaming as the roof caved in followed by deluge
- Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre in Point Cook was closed after the collapse
A shopping centre ceiling has collapsed above horrified shoppers as a storm tore through Victoria and locals were told to urgently find shelter.
The Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre in Point Cook, in Melbourne’s south west, was forced to close on Friday afternoon because of the dramatic collapse just after 1pm.
The footage came Melbourne’s west was hit by torrential rain, dangerous winds and ‘giant hail’.
Footage uploaded to social media showed water dripping from the shopping centre ceiling moments before it fell in, while shoppers can be heard talking.
The ceiling of Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre in Point Cook, south west Melbourne, collapsed above horrified shoppers after storms tore through Victoria (Pictured, the ceiling caves in)
A large section of the ceiling then fell to the floor along with a surge of water that immediately flooded the shopping centre.
Shoppers are heard gasping and screaming in the footage.
Ambulance Victoria told Daily Mail Australia its paramedics attended the scene but no emergency care was provided.
Storm water accumulated in the roof immediately deluged the centre after the ceiling collapse
Victoria’s emergency services warned anyone nearby Weribee and Melton to ‘shelter indoors now’ because of the violent storm.
The social media alert warned those around ‘Port Phillip waters, Inner, Outer East, Western and Geelong and Bellarine Peninsula’ of ‘destructive winds, giant hailstones and heavy rainfall’.
Roads at Laverton were quickly underwater and flash flooding was widespread in Melbourne’s western suburbs.