Clean up begins but strong winds will hit Victoria again this week

Strong winds are forecast to hit Victoria again later this week after wild weather battered the state on Sunday and Monday, leaving thousands without power and killing one woman.

By Monday evening, crews were still working to restore electricity to more than 79,000 customers who remained without power.

Power transmission company AusNet confirmed 73,000 customers in its network had no power and some could be cut off “for a number of days”.

A 63-year-old woman, who is yet to be identified, was killed by a falling tree that crushed a cabin in Moama, on the Victoria-NSW border, as emergency services scrambled to respond to calls for help across the state.

Rain and hail also fell across large swathes of Melbourne on Monday, but wind speeds eased during the late afternoon.

The number of customers without power peaked at 180,000 at 6.30am on Monday. At 1pm, about 115,000 were still disconnected.

Powercor had about 2200 customers without power in its network by 6pm on Monday. United Energy was working to restore power to just under 3800 on Monday afternoon, down from about 20,000 earlier in the day.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Kevin Parkyn said severe weather warnings were likely to be issued again on Friday with strong winds expected.

“But it looks like a standard springtime passage of a cold front where the damaging winds will likely be confined to the more elevated parts of the state,” he said.

A 146km/h gust battered Wilsons Promontory about 2.30am on Monday, while the alpine resort of Falls Creek also copped a mighty 132km/h blast of wind.

St Kilda and Aireys Inlet recorded peak gusts of 113km/h. Off Melbourne’s shore, a 141km/h gust was recorded at Fawkner Beacon in the waters of Port Phillip Bay.

Pilots were electing not to use the north-south runway at Melbourne Airport due to high winds on Monday, causing dozens of cancellations. One flight to Vietnam had been delayed for 15 hours, Melbourne Airport spokesman Andrew Lund told ABC Radio.

At least 58 flights were cancelled on Monday by 5pm, including 29 arrivals and 29 departures.

Between 7pm Sunday and 1pm Monday, the SES received nearly 3800 calls for help. Of those, 2600 were related to building damage. Frankston, Morwell, Warragul, Emerald and Moe were among the worst-affected areas.

Premier Jacinta Allan said emergency services and volunteers had worked around the clock to clear debris.

“There is a lot of damage. Working through that recovery and response, we’ll have a better understanding of the ongoing impact,” she said.

“We continue to thank every single Victorian who is working incredibly hard to restore power, reopen roads, make homes and buildings safe.”

Baw Baw Shire Council Mayor Annemarie McCabe said the towns of Warragul, Drouin and Longwarry were all without power.

“The shops are all shut. You can’t go and grab a coffee,” she said.

Moe Traders Association president Sue Broadbent said there were numerous trees down in the region and many residents and businesses were without power.

Fierce winds had torn the roof off one house in nearby Newborough and brought down a large tree in the centre of Moe, she said. Broadbent’s cafe in the town centre lost power, and she expected the outage would cost her thousands of dollars in lost revenue and spoiled food.

Shortly after 1pm, Broadbent confirmed power had been restored to her cafe.

Traffic lights were out at more than 60 intersections across Victoria on Monday afternoon. Fallen trees and branches were also a hazard for motorists and slowing traffic.

Buses replaced trains between Bairnsdale and Southern Cross stations, as the extreme weather caused obstructions to fall across the track.

Some schools closed because of the severe weather and ran classes online.

St Helena Secondary College, in Eltham, and Yarra Ranges Special Development School were among the schools that closed for the day, along with Leopold Kindergarten, near Geelong, and Colac East Kindergarten.

In a letter to students, Padua College on the Mornington Peninsula cited concerns over the weather and student safety behind its decision to teach remotely across its three campuses.

Schools affected by power outages were made to run classes online as well.

There was a coastal hazard warning for damaging surf and abnormally high tides, including parts of Melbourne near Port Phillip Bay and Western Port.

Walking paths next to the Maribyrnong River were inundated on Monday night, but the Bureau of Meteorology said there were no flood warnings current for Victorian rivers.

Melbourne reached a top of 13 degrees on Monday, with 2.2 millimetres of rain falling by 5.30pm. Conditions are expected to dry up by Tuesday, with a top of 17, before a mostly sunny Wednesday brings a peak of 20 degrees.

With Ashleigh McMillan

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