A 63-year-old woman in Moama has died after a tree fell on her Merool Road cabin during wild weather in Victoria and Tasmania overnight. Emergency services found her body around 3:50am this morning. A man was also taken to Echuca hospital for treatment on a hand injury.
A severe weather system has hit both states, resulting in winds equivalent to those of a category two cyclone. Gusts of up to 145km/h were recorded overnight, causing homes to be damaged and storm surges along coastal areas.
Parts of Victoria’s coastline have eroded and piers have been hit by massive waves leading to boats becoming submerged by rising waters.
The SES has responded to 2,500 calls overnight. State duty officer for the SES, Kate Turner, described the damage her team has been responding to.
“For the most part we’ve seen lots and lots of trees on roads but also onto people’s houses and then a fair few roof tiles coming amiss as that wind has kicked in overnight,” she said.
In Tasmania, the same front has caused flood evacuations in the north and left over 30,000 homes without electricity.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has issued flood emergency warnings to towns across the Meander and Mersey rivers. Executive director of the Tasmanian SES, Mick Lowe, said the River Derwent dam is likely to exceed its seven-metre flood level today.
“Parts of the Derwent River are likely going to receive major flooding this afternoon,” he said.
Damaging winds have caused disruption to weather services alerting people to the severe weather system in the state’s north. Weather services around Hobart have not been affected.
The conditions are expected to ease as the system passes later today and into tonight, according to the BOM. Senior forecaster Rod Dickson told the ABC that although the wildest weather has passed, people should still be cautious.
“But there’s still the risk of damaging winds across southern and mountain areas of the state today with quite squally westerly winds with showers passing through,” he said.
Photo: SES rescue truck by jarrodpm is available HERE and is used under a Creative Commons License. This image has not been modified.
