By Lachlan Abbott
Thousands of properties lost power during a night of storms across Victoria, with more extreme heat and weather to come on Monday as temperatures climb towards 40 degrees.
The State Emergency Service responded to 740 calls for help in the 24 hours to 6am. About half were in Greater Geelong as a storm rolled through on Sunday evening, bringing flash flooding, hail and fierce winds that ripped the roof off at least one home.
Storms then rumbled east to Melbourne. Fire Rescue Victoria said a lightning strike was the possible cause of a fire in Taylors Lakes that severely damaged a house.
Napoleon and Simone Trombetta told Nine’s Today program they evacuated their Mirror Court home with their dog, Frankie, after hearing a bang just before 1am, followed by a smoke alarm sounding.
“[We] jumped out of bed and got out of there as quick as we could,” Simone said.
Napoleon said: “What we’ve been told, by the fireys, [is] the whole roof area – apart from the main bedroom – is down; it’s gone. So there’s a lot of damage.”
Lightning was believed to have struck this house in Taylors Lakes, sparking a fire. Credit: Nine News
The Bureau of Meteorology cancelled a severe thunderstorm warning just after 4am. It said Lara recorded 35.4 millimetres of rain in an hour and Point Wilson recorded a 109km/h wind gust at 9.07pm.
Heavy rainfall was also recorded north-west of Melbourne as the weather bureau’s Blackwood station in the Wombat State Forest recorded 70 millimetres in the 24 hours to 9am on Monday.
Victoria’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has warned poor water quality is forecast at almost all beaches in Port Phillip Bay, rendering them not suitable for swimming as Melbourne’s weather heats up.
More than 10,000 Victorians remained without power around 7am on Monday, most of which were within AusNet’s zone in eastern Victoria. However, this figure declined later in the morning as power was gradually restored.
A Victorian State Emergency Services crew responds to storm damage near Clifton Springs on Sunday night.Credit: Nine News
AusNet reported 5800 customers without power around 10.30am, including outages on Phillip Island and eastern Melbourne suburbs such as Boronia.
In western Victoria, PowerCor reported 3389 customers were suffering from unplanned outages around 10.30am, many of them in Geelong.
Bushfires threaten in western Victoria
An updated emergency bushfire warning was issued for Mirranatwa in the southern Grampians at 10.30am on Monday.
Hot northerly winds are expected to push a blaze on the western Victoria Range south towards Dunkeld.
However, the updated alert said: “The spread of the fire has been slowed, crews continue to work on building containment line and suppressing fire activity.”
The hamlet of Mirranatwa has continually been under threat since bushfires erupted in the tinder-dry Grampians in December. The farming community sits within the northern end of the Victoria Valley, a rich grazing area nestled within two ridges of the Grampians mountain range.
Further west, the Little Desert fire, which threatened the town of Dimboola last week, is now heading in a westerly direction towards Kaniva-Edenhope Road.
An emergency warning was issued at 6am for Morea and Peronne, but this was downgraded to a watch-and-act alert at 10.29am. Peronne has a population of 49 people, according to the last census.
Melbourne’s temperature is forecast to reach 39 degrees on Monday, which would make it the hottest day in the city during the current heatwave.
On Sunday, the weather bureau’s Olympic Park station temperature reached 38.5 degrees at 5.30pm. There is a chance of a thunderstorm in the city on Monday afternoon and evening.
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