Boy, 4, walking with family among three killed in wild Melbourne storm
The family of a four-year-old boy killed when 100km/h winds smashed Melbourne late on Thursday say he was walking with his father and sister when tragedy struck. He was one of three people who were killed in the storm — and now there are warnings abour further wild weather.
Victoria
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The family of a four-year-old boy killed in the Thursday night wild storm that swept across Melbourne said he had gone out for a quick walk with his father and little sister when he was hit by a falling tree just metres from his Blackburn South home.
It comes as the Bureau of Meteorology says severe weather warnings could be reissued on Saturday for exposed coastal areas and elevated parts of the state.
Emergency services were inundated with calls for help on Friday morning after 100km/h winds tore through Melbourne, killing three people, leaving 50,000 homes and businesses without power and 88 suburbs with undrinkable water.
Young boy Ayan Kapoor had been outside for just a few minutes when tragedy struck on Hawthorn Rd at 6pm.
“He (the father) is in very bad condition, he’s in shock, he blames himself for what happened,” Ayan’s uncle told the Herald Sun.
“His one-and-a-half year old sister was out walking with them and it happened right in front of them.”
Ayan’s auntie said the tragedy happened after they went for a walk, just as they would on many other nights.
“They’ve just gone outside for a little walk, it was just for two minutes they went outside, and the tree just suddenly fell on him,” Ayan’s auntie said.
“The father had a little injury on his foot but he is okay ... it’s just very sad news.”
The uprooted tree is lying along the footpath on the residential street, with the area marked off by cones.
Two Whitehorse City Council workers were assessing the tree on Friday morning.
Ayan was taken to Box Hill Hospital before being transferred to the Royal Children’s Hospital where police said he died later on Thursday night.
A woman, 36, also died when a tree fell on a ute in Fernshaw, 75km east of Melbourne, about 6.50pm.
Police said the ute was travelling along the Maroondah Highway when it was struck by a falling tree.
The Parkdale woman, who was the front passenger in the vehicle died at the scene, while the driver, a Flinders man, 24, was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
A third person, a 59-year-old Tecoma man had his car crushed while he was leaving a shopping centre carpark at the corner of Terrys Ave and Ena Rd in Belgrave, in Melbourne’s east.
Police said the tree toppled on his car about 6pm and emergency crews worked to free him but he was unable to be saved.
One woman was lucky to escape serious injury when a tree slammed into the ground in front of her car.
Meagan Murphy said she had “never been so scared” when the large tree crashed to the ground as she was driving along Coolart Rd near the Myers Rd intersection in Balnarring.
It comes as the cyclon-strength winds which tore through Victoria destroyed homes, left 50,000 without power and 98 Melbourne suburbs with undrinkable water.
According to the State Emergency Service, calls for assistance didn’t drop off until Friday evening after savage 100km/h winds wreaked havoc on Melbourne on Thursday night.
An SES spokesman said from about 5pm Thursday to 9pm Friday, they had received more than 3000 calls for help.
Belgrade resident Janine Rigby said her household was still struggling to stay warm on Friday night with no power, which has been disconnected since Thursday afternoon.
“We are boiling our water and trying to keep our turtle warm with the use of a generator,” she said.
“It’s quite cold inside. We have no heating.”
She said although her Sunnyhill Rd property had been hit by fallen trees, miraculously her house had not been damaged, with many of her neighbours now homeless or also without power.
“My neighbours in Apsley Rd have been hit worse. At least three houses are inhabitable,” she said. Ms Rigby said it was the worst weather she had experienced in 25 years of living in the hills.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Dean Marramore said the highest wind speeds recorded in the state were at Wilson’s Promontory, where gusts peaked at 158km/h.
“That’s their strongest gust there for a number of years and that’s equivalent to almost a Category 2 cyclone,” he said.
“We also saw a number of gusts around the bayside suburbs of 100km/h to 115km/h.”
Mr Marramore said that while sunny days were expected over the weekend, winds would increase and temperatures would drop at night.
“We’ll see another burst of wind picking up late Saturday and then over the overnight period,” he said.
Mr Marramore said severe weather warnings could be reissued on Saturday for exposed coastal areas and “elevated parts of the state”.
Battered by wild winds, Belgrave was one of the worst-affected areas with dozens of trees uprooted.
Several homes and cars were crushed on Kaola Street and power lines were ripped apart as up to 20 gum trees toppled over.
One hero neighbour saved an elderly woman trapped in her home when it was destroyed by a tree. Josh O’Connell rushed to rescue 85-year-old Bev when he heard the “rumble” from the tree crashing down.
“I knew she was in trouble,” he said. “She lives by herself and has dementia, so I knew she was with no one. I ran down and all the doors were locked. I was screaming out to her and luckily she called out.
“I smashed the kitchen window and went through there.
“She was on the bottom level … the tree had smashed the roof and the whole stairwell, she couldn’t even get out of the house. She was sitting on the couch and the roof was so close to her head but she was none the wiser.”
The 27-year-old and his roommate, Michael Hendy, stayed with Bev until emergency services arrived.
“The only thing she cared about was her cat, so luckily we found it and put it in a cat cage,” he said.
“Me and my roommate stayed with her for about two hours (waiting) for the fire brigade to come.”
Nigel Leslie and his two daughters were luckily not home when a tree fell on their house. His ex wife, Brooke, broke down in tears as she recalled the moment she was reunited with her daughters after learning about the fallen tree.
“When Nigel got home with the girls, my youngest just ran into my arms and said ‘Daddy could have died’,” she said.
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