Victorians swelter through heat before cool change lashes state

UPDATE: MORE than 400 calls for help were made to emergency services as wild winds and 1100 lightning strikes hit Victoria in a few minutes of weather madness late yesterday.

Wild Weather

• Probe into broken Spirit

THE clean-up from wild storms across Victoria continues this morning as the full extent of the damage is revealed.

Damaging winds and dry lightning strikes accompanied thunderstorms that affected a vast area of Victoria late yesterday, spanning from the Mallee to the northeast and from the surf coast to metropolitan Melbourne and Gippsland.

Gusts peaked at 107km/h in Hopetoun and 100km/h in St Kilda, but gusts over 90km/h were common in many parts of Victoria.

A murky mist of dust blew into Melbourne with the storm that brought a cooling wind change to the city, where the top temperature was 42C.

The windstorm caused the Spirit of Tasmania II’s moorings to snap, forcing the ship to swing 90 degrees from Station Pier and buckling its vehicle ramp.

State Control Centre spokesman Gerard Scholten said the State Emergency Service had 400 calls for assistance by 9pm.

Of those, 195 were for fallen trees and 53 for minor building damage.

The worst-hit areas included Melbourne’s outer east and northeast, Colac, Warragul and Mildura.

Although the weather is much cooler today, dry lightning strikes may cause fresh headaches for weary firefighters across the state.

The violent thunderstorms yesterday delivered 1100 lightning strikes - many concentrated in the state’s northeast - by 6.30pm.

“While it (the storms) has brought cooler conditions to us it might leave (firefighters) with a significant new fire threat, particularly in rugged areas in northeastern Victoria,” Mr Scholten said.

Mr Scholten said aircraft began scanning for new hot spots and fires yesterday and would continue today.

Storm damage in Henderson Street, South Melbourne. Picture: Christopher Chan

The dust storm rolls across Melbourne. Picture: Instagram

The storm sweeping through the city would have been quite the sight from the Melbourne Star. Picture Ian Currie

Inspecting damage to the Spirit of Tasmania. Picture: Nicole Garmston

Late yesterday it looked like Armageddon had come to Melbourne as the city struggled with 42C temperatures, then was hit with a huge dust storm when a cool change came through about 6pm.

The mercury dropped by 10C within 45 minutes. Dust storms also clouded Mildura and parts of the northwest.

Lightning strikes hit the northeast in the afternoon as firefighting helicopters were diverted from controlled blazes to the northern slopes to watch for fires during the night.

Earlier, they had been mopping up three small blazes, one of which saw residents urged to evacuate from The Gurdies near Phillip Island.

Strong winds brought down trees and created traffic hazards with the SES receiving 236 requests for assistance.

Before the cool change, some parts of the state scorched through 45C temperatures while Melbourne suffered its hottest day since January 2014.

Trains were forced to slow to 70km/h from 110km/h across the entire network due to the sweltering heat as the mercury hit 42.2C in Melbourne.

Emotions boiled over on some trains as commuters were forced to sweat it out in packed carriages as airconditioning failed on several services.

Louise Lyndon pleaded: “About to pass out. Turn airconditioner on. Please.”

Metro Trains spokeswoman Sammie Black said that airconditioners had failed on about 10 services.

“But the network in fact ran well today,” Ms Black said.

Paramedics were called out to eight children locked in cars but none was taken to hospital.

The hottest town in the state was Swan Hill at 45.2C, followed closely by Kyabram at 44.8C and Mildura with 44.5C.

But Victoria will say goodbye to extreme heat today.

Temperatures will plummet to 16C by 6am, while the maximum is expected to be just 19C — sending the state from sweltering to shivering.

“It will be a shock to the system,” Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Peter Newham said.

“There will be a few showers in Melbourne, we’re forecasting one to five millimetres and it will be fairly cloudy.”

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