| Situation Update No. 1 Ref.no.: ST-20100210-24879-AUS
Situation Update No. 1
On 2010-02-11 at 04:40:54 [UTC]
Event: Extreme Weather
Location: Australia State of Victoria Melbourne area Situation: Severe thunderstorm warnings have been posted for large chunks of the state this afternoon, with damaging winds, heavy rain and hail predicted. And property owners have been urged to check their land for spot fires after thousands of lightning strikes in the past two days caused more than 100 fires, now all under control. The Bureau of Meterorology has forecast storms for locations including Horsham, Ballarat, Bendigo, Seymour, Maryborough, Geelong, Melbourne, Traralgon and Bairnsdale. The storms are predicted to hit the south-west, mid-west, north-west and central districts first, followed by the east and north-east parts of the state from late afternoon. It follows yesterday’s damaging thunderstorms - which triggered 90 emergency calls to the State Emergency Service in two hours and caused mass power blackouts. This time storms are also predicted to hit closer to the CBD. "The change is coming from the west towards us and the air looks very unstable as it moves eastwards," said senior forecaster Terry Ryan. "We'll see showers and thunderstorms developing again and we're hoping to get a lot more around the metropolitan area rather than around the ranges. "We could see local heavy falls again, there's potential for flash-flooding in the city and suburbs, but we'll still see temperatures reach 30 before the change. The afternoon looks particularly unstable around the Melbourne area," he said. Today's warnings follow a blast of damaging weather late yesterday, with heavy rains and winds pounding Melbourne's fringes. A band of torrential rain stretched across the ranges west of Melbourne, delivering heavy rain to Geelong, Ballarat and Melton.
The wild weather may have triggered a tragic turn of events for a 60-year-old woman early today when she tried to move a fallen tree limb from a road in central Victoria, police say. Police said she was working with another motorist to move the branch from the Heathcote-Kyneton Road near Heathcote about 5.30am when a truck rounded a blind corner and sent it flying into her. The woman was flown to Royal Melbourne Hospital and is in a serious condition. Police believe the branch could have been dislodged during yesterday's high winds. During yesterday's storms, the SES responded to 250 jobs across the state, with 90 emergency calls between 3pm and 5pm in areas near Bacchus Marsh. The town's shopping centre was evacuated after a large section of roof collapsed under the force of the downpour. "Most of the jobs were for tree limbs falling down, minor flooding due to blocked drains and we had number of homes with damage to the roof," SES spokesman Allen Briggs said. He said with heavy rain expected to fall again today, residents should secure loose items around the home, clean out gutters and drive with caution. The bureau predicts the wet weather will contract into the east of the state overnight.
"Today will be the wettest day and tomorrow the storms will be in the east. we'll see just a few showers, Mr Ryan said. A Powercor spokesman said emergency crews had a night of frenetic activity trying to restore power to thousands of homes. "At our peak we had about 10,000 customers off supply, spanning from Bendigo, Kyneton and Castlemaine, to parts of eastern Victoria, like Shepparton, Mooroopna and Cobram," said Damian Batey. "Around 2000 customers remain off supply, and of those 90 per cent are individual customer jobs. We've still got quite a bit of mop-up today, and I suspect it will take us into the early afternoon." With another front to blow across the areas again today, Mr Batey said staff were on "high alert" and were "watching weather patterns very closely". "We're well-prepared in terms of having plenty of resources in place. Rosters are being worked to make sure crews are refreshed ... Same situation with extra power equipment, which is in plentiful supply," he said. |
