Melbourne weather: Woman killed, Frankston pier breaks off, flights cancelled as cold front lashes southern states

A woman has died and two children have been hospitalised after a tree fell on a moving car.

A woman was killed after a tree fell on her car at Fernshaw amid wild weather conditions this morning. Picture: 9 News

A woman has died and two children have been hospitalised after a tree fell on a moving car in northeastern Victoria.

The incident occurred as the southern states are hit by strong winds and freezing conditions.

The woman was travelling in the car with a man and two children on Maroondah Highway in the locality of Fernshaw when a gum tree fell on the car just after 9.30am this morning.

The group were extricated from the wreckage but the woman, who was in the front passenger seat, died at the scene.

The man and one of the children were airlifted to hospital in critical condition with the child suffering life threatening injures. The other child was hospitalised with minor injuries by road ambulance.

The woman has yet to be identified. Yarra Ranges Highway Patrol officers will prepare a report for the Coroner after the investigation is completed.

Power out, flights disrupted

Snow blanketed elevated areas in Victoria and NSW overnight, cutting power to 8500 properties in South Australia and caused part of Frankston Pier to snap off in Melbourne.

The system of dual cold fronts moved east overnight bringing “destructive” winds which reached 120km/h at Cape Otway on the Victorian coast and 100km/h at Hindmarsh Island in South Australia.

Airports across the country are also being disrupted. More than 120 flights have been cancelled at Sydney Airport, as Australia’s biggest gateway struggles to operate with just one runway.

Gale force winds have forced the closure of the main north-south and parallel runways, leaving just the east west runway in operation.

As a result, 126 flights from the T2 and T3 terminals have been cancelled, and other flights delayed by an average 45-minutes.

No international flights have been cancelled but delays are increasing due to the runway restriction.

In Melbourne, 32 domestic flights have been cancelled across the day with more expected into the night.

A spokesman said there had been intermittent periods of single runway operations due to winds of up to 80km/h.

He said the cancellations in both Melbourne would have a knock-on effect around the country.

In any given week day, 60 per cent of the domestic short-haul fleet passes through Melbourne which is a 24-hour airport, unlike Sydney which has a nightly curfew from 11pm to 6am.

Conditions are expected to improve this afternoon after winds of 87km/h were recorded at Sydney Airport this morning, and up to 78km/h in Melbourne.

High winds have caused chaos at Sydney airport.

In Victoria, the State Emergency Service had responded to 630 calls for help in 24 hours, with the Mornington Peninsula and Bass Coast bearing the brunt of the damage on Friday morning.

Pier collapses in storm havoc

Rough seas have also claimed Frankston’s pier, with videos posted to social media showing part of it floating away.

Local resident Campbell Noonan witnessed Channel 9 reporter Mark Santomartino attempt to leap onto the beached portion of Frankston Pier,

“It was the last place you’d want to be this morning. It was bitterly cold and generally pretty miserable,” he told The Australian.

“The journalist certainly was determined to put his viewers right in the picture. As a long-term resident, I felt terrible that I neglected to warn him that the pier was always a tad slippery when it was wet.”

Sofia De Lesantis, a spokesperson for Parks Victoria, said a 20m section of the Pier had broken off and had since washed ashore,

“We are assessing the damage to the Pier and the works that will be required to repair the damage.”

A spokeswoman for the SES said Melbourne’s southeast was currently experiencing high tides and wind gusts of 90 to 100km/h.

“What’s left of the pier is still copping an absolute pummelling at the moment,” the Department of Transport’s Chris Miller told 3AW.

Ambulance Victoria said paramedics are treating four people who have been injured in a crash on the Black Spur in the Yarra Ranges after a tree came down on their car at 9.40am.

Three of the four people are believed to have serious injuries, and two air ambulance helicopters have been sent to the scene.

Blizzard conditions are expected across alpine areas, with snow expected above 500 metres and flurries possible for the Dandenong Ranges.

Icy temperatures are also set to continue across the state, with Melbourne headed for a top of 11C — but strong winds will make it feel much colder.

The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast possible snow in areas of Melbourne higher than 500m tonight.

Elsewhere across Victoria, Ballarat is forecast to reach just 7C and Mount Dandenong 4C.

The Bureau of Meteorology expect the wild weather to worsen over the weekend, with the eastern states likely to be hit by 120km/h winds and an elevated fire risk.

A Sky News reporter in front of the rogue pier.

“Over the last 24 over the storm has moved across the Bass Strait bringing with it damaging and locally destructive winds. The strongest winds have extended into Melbourne metro, recently Frankston has experience 94km/h.

“At this stage we are expecting damaging winds in Victoria and extending into NSW as well, particularly over the alpine areas, and we could experience wind gusts of up to 120km/h”

In NSW, powerful winds have torn the roof of a nursing home in Stockton this morning. Although around 30 residents were evacuated from the facility, NSW Ambulance said no one was injured,

“Everybody is incredibly lucky to be safe and alive … there are no injuries and no-one has been killed.

“This could have ended in disaster.”

Nick Aisake, a spokesman for the NSW SES, said the brunt of the storm was apparent across the state, with the SES responding to 337 calls since the storm began yesterday,

“At the moment we are experiencing damage in Nowra, Wollongong and the Hunter Region. The worst affected areas are the South Coast region”

The strong winds and heavy snowfall will impact alpine areas, with the increased risk of blizzard activity and localised avalanche activity, with the heavy snowfall forcing the SES to activate search and rescue teams to “recover trapped vehicles”.

While the southern part of the country will be freezing, the BOM has warned above average temperatures northern NSW and Queensland is elevating the risk fire danger across the states. We are also seeing elevated fire dangers for Western Australia and parts of the Northern Territory as well.

In South Australia, the State Emergency Services responded to 370 calls in under 24 hours, with the winds resulting in fallen trees damaging property and blocking roads. Several instances of trampolines being hurled across neighbours yards were also reported.

However, the cold snap has left ski resorts across the country salivating.

Blizzard conditions, strong winds and heavy falling snow resulted in 82cm of fresh powder blanketing Thredbo since Thursday morning and another 50cm of snow expected to fall across the rest of the day.

Rhylla Morgan at Mount Buller said the conditions were “exceptional”,

“We are literally shovelling snow out, there may be some challenges that come out this storm but we are happy to take those challenges head on.”

Temperatures at Mount Buller were hovering around -7C, with winds taking the wind-chill down to a bitter -18.

70cm storm total and cars are going under at Falls Creek! 😍😍

Image: @Falls_Creek pic.twitter.com/swbbZLEl8J

— SNOWSEARCH australia (@SNOWSEARCH_aus) August 8, 2019

In NSW, a severe weather warning was issued this morning with strong winds expected to impact from Armidale to Cooma.

South Australia and Victorian SES believed the worst of the storm had passed, but encouraged residents to remain “vigilant”.

The Bureau of Meteorology has recorded winds of up to 87km/h at Sydney airport and a gale warning is in place for the Sydney coast and surrounds.

A Sydney Airport spokesman said travellers were encouraged to check the status of their flight with their airline.

Winds are expected to ease in the afternoon.