Two men drowned after being swept from Frankston Pier on Wednesday afternoon as extreme winds reaching 130 km/h wreaked havoc across Victoria, bringing down trees and cutting power to thousands of homes.
More than 1400 calls were made to the State Emergency Service, including for more than 1000 toppled trees. Just 22 calls for assistance were outstanding by 6.30am on Thursday, a spokesperson said.
Wind gusts of up to 130km/h were recorded at Wilsons Promontory, 120km/h at Mount Gellibrand, 117km/h at Falls Creek, 113km/h at Mount Hotham and 98km/h at Cape Otway.
The powerful winds peaked in Melbourne at 96km/h in St Kilda.
A severe weather warning for more destructive winds has been cancelled, as the low-pressure system moves into the Tasman Sea and towards New Zealand, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
Two men died on Wednesday after being swept from Frankston Pier about 4.45pm. A Victoria Police helicopter pulled the unresponsive men from the water but they could not be saved.
A police helicopter at Frankston beach on Wednesday afternoon.Credit: Hans Vanderstadt
Frankston City Council Mayor Kris Bolam told ABC radio on Thursday morning that he had heard mixed reports, including that one man had died trying to save another.
“It sounds like there was a person either swept in the water or surfing and was in trouble, and another person at the pier has jumped in to try and help, and both lost their lives as a result, tragically,” he said.
In Malvern, a large tree toppled onto a tram and the rear of a car near Cabrini Hospital. The female car driver told ABC radio she rushed to check on her daughter sitting in the back seat.
“I stopped, and I saw a tree branch had come through the back window of the car … my daughter was in the child’s seat, so I ran out to see if she was OK,” she said.
Melburnians battle strong winds in the CBD. Credit: Joe Armao
Power has been restored to thousands of customers with just 895 households still waiting for reconnection at 7am on Thursday. On Wednesday evening, 13,111 homes were without electricity statewide.
“The impacts of this battering were pretty extensive,” said BOM senior meteorologist Angus Hines.
He said Victorians could expect calmer weather on Thursday.
“[Thursday] will be cool and very settled across most of the south-east, although there’ll be quite a bit of cloud cover for some parts of southern Australia, very little rain in the forecast as well,” Hines said.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
