3 weeks ago
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Hundreds of people have made calls for help and thousands left without power after destructive winds damaged property and felled trees across Victoria overnight.
Wind speeds peaked at more than 100km/h in coastal areas over the state and a range of Melbourne suburbs experienced winds of between 60km/h and 90km/h, including the CBD, Essendon, St Kilda and Point Cook.
SES workers at the site of a fallen tree. Emergency workers have responded to more than 800 calls for help in the 24 hours from 7am on Friday.Credit: SES Victoria
The State Emergency Service estimated it had received more than 800 call-outs since 7am on Friday, with more than 500 of those for fallen trees, “but we’re expecting the number of requests for assistance to go up this morning as people are waking up” and assessing more damage, a spokesperson said.
CitiPower had more than 6100 customers without power about 6.30am on Saturday across northern and western Victoria. AusNet reported 24 unplanned outages resulting in 3700 customers without power in the state’s east.
Winds across the city are expected to ease in the coming hours, Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Jonathan How said.
“It will still be very windy as most people wake up – so strong wind chill – but [it will] ease below damaging strength,” he said.
A severe weather warning remains in place for much of the state, including coastal areas, Melbourne, Geelong and the Great Dividing Range. Winds will persist early on Saturday morning in these areas before contracting to the Gippsland coast by mid-morning.
Blizzard conditions are forecast above 1200 metres on Saturday, How said.
On Friday, Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch warned Victorians that the cold front and wind speeds would “likely bring destruction”.
“These wind speeds are likely to impact our power systems, so we are alerting all Victorians – make sure that you are prepared now,” he said.
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