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Damaging winds exceeding 100km/h are forecast to hit Melbourne on Wednesday afternoon, posing a risk of damage to homes and bringing down trees and powerlines across the city.
Light rain fell over the city on Wednesday morning, but wind speeds were expected to ramp up by lunchtime, said the Bureau of Meteorology’s Dean Narramore.
Damaging winds are forecast across Victoria today. Credit: Paul Jeffers
A severe weather warning for damaging winds is in place across most of the state, but Narramore said suburbs bordering Port Philip Bay would be the hardest hit in Melbourne.
“Once we get into the afternoon and evening, wind gusts of 90 to 100 and even to 110km/h is possible, mostly by the coast … or in the hills up towards the Dandenong [Ranges],” he said.
Melbourne’s north-eastern suburbs are also forecast to be hit by strong winds.
“Once you start talking about winds at and above 90 to 100km/h, that’s going to bring down trees and power lines, and cause property damage, but also can blow things around, like outdoor furniture, trampolines,” Narramore said.
SES state duty officer Grant Machell said emergency volunteers had been briefed and were ready to assist people affected by the weather.
“The usual advice for people: beware of where you are. Look out for branches that can fall down any time,” he said.
As the wind will be blowing from the west, rather than from the north as it generally does, stressed tree branches were more likely to snap, Machell said.
He cautioned landowners undertaking planned burns to monitor their fires when the wind changes direction.
SES volunteers have already received some call-outs for assistance, but those calls are expected to rise after 11am.
Electricity company Powercor, which services homes in Victoria’s north and west, said extra crews were on standby to address outages.
“Extreme winds like these are rare – but when they hit, they dramatically increase the risk of trees, branches or debris damaging our network and causing localised outages,” head of network control and operations Peter Galey said in a statement.
“Make sure you are ready to enact your back-up plan if you rely on life support equipment or need electrical items to care for others and have water available if your supply relies on power.”
Sydney is forecast to hit 38 degrees today, with north-westerly winds dragging heat across from central parts of the country.
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