Many Canberrans will spend the first day of 2007 cleaning up after last night's wild storm which threatened New Year's Eve festivities and created extraordinary scenes across the southern suburbs.
A combination of mud and hail almost a metre deep caked one street in Chisholm, the Monaro Highway between Calwell and Royalla was reportedly blocked by a mudslide and flash floods damaged homes.
There were unconfirmed reports of rising floodwaters trapping drivers in cars.
Strong winds brought down trees and deep layers of hail blanketed the southern suburbs on a memorable and sometimes frightening last night of 2006, with the storm at its most furious between 6.30pm and 7pm.
Tuggeranong received a deluge of rain almost 38mm during the storm, with thunder and lightning rocking the suburbs.
Fireworks over City Hill went ahead at 9pm and were also expected to go off at midnight, with the weather depleting the usual crowd of revellers.
Rachel Battams, of Chisholm, said the storm flooded her home in Paschke Place and dumped almost a metre of hail and mud on nearby Goldstein Crescent.
"It was crazy. I've never seen anything like it. It was like flooding, but on top of the water there was just a layer of hail everywhere. It was like looking at snow outside your house," she said.
"There were people there with shovels trying to shift it all out and put it in the drains, but the drains were all blocked."
The 16-year-old also had to cancel her New Year's Eve plans because her family home was flooded.
"There is water coming out of power points, out of light fittings, into doors, we've got towels everywhere. We've currently [put] the power out and we're walking around with candles," she said. "We had a party planned. We had to cancel it, we had like 40 people coming."
ACT State Emergency Service chief officer Tony Graham said last night the SES had received 140 calls for assistance from the public, with the worst-hit suburbs Chisholm, Richardson, Theodore and Calwell. There was also minor damage reported in the north.
"The majority of calls have come from Canberra's southside and involve roof damage and localised flooding," he said.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Bob Moore said the storm hit Canberra about 6.10pm and was at its most intense between 6.30pm and 7pm. The storm was focused on Tuggeranong, with 37.6mm of rain falling, mainly during those wild 30 minutes. The average rainfall for the whole month of December is 52.6mm.
Wind gusted up to 60km/h, bringing trees down on homes.
"The radar showed quite a big line of thunderstorms from Tuggeranong [tracking] north-west," Mr Moore said.
It was the third serious storm to hit Canberra in three days after Friday's wild weather also caused havoc, and damage at the National Museum of Australia.
Last night's storm saw the ACT Emergency Services Agency issue an orange warning its second-most serious for the first time in 2006.
The orange warning is an alert for an event which will threaten lives and property in the ACT, with residents urged to seek safe shelter.
The ESA initially issued its lowest-level blue warning after 6pm, upgrading it to the orange warning after 7pm.
At 9pm, it issued a new blue warning for the ACT, after a downgrading of the storm threat by the Bureau of Meteorology.
The blue warning is in place until 9am today. It is the ESA's lowest-level warning, alerting of an event that could threaten life and property and asking residents to be prepared for an imminent emergency.
Twelve ACT SES crews, the ACT Fire Brigade and SES volunteers from Queanbeyan were all kept busy responding to the storm.
An ActewAGL spokesman said the storm did affect a feeder station at Woden but there had been no reports of power failures last night.
ACT Government spokesman Jeremy Lasek said last night's storm delayed some musical events in Civic, but the show still went on, including the fireworks. It was ironic that in the previous two years, dry weather had threatened the fireworks going ahead for fears they might spark a bushfire. Last night, the concern was the rain and lightning.
More information on preparing for an emergency can be found in the Emergencies and the National Capital: A residents' guide at www.esa.act.gov.au