Fires destroy homes in Victoria as storm zaps power from 220,000 home for ‘days, if not weeks’
Authorities have confirmed the first victim of a deadly storm that tore through Victoria overnight, zapping power from 500,000 of homes.
Environment
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A dairy farmer was killed in a vicious storm system that moved over Victoria overnight, with hundreds of thousands of residents still without power as a result.
Residents have been warned they could be left without power for “days, if not weeks,” after a massive storm on Tuesday afternoon pulled down power lines and caused generators to fail.
Powerful wind gusts, lightning and golf ball size hail wreaked havoc on homes and businesses.
In an update on Wednesday morning, Premier Jacinta Allan confirmed that a dairy farmer in Mirboo North, South Gippsland was killed last night as storms moved through the region.
“Early indication is that he was on a tractor and that he was hit by flying debris,” Victoria SES Emergency Management Commissioner Rick Nugent said.
There are still 220,000 residents without power as of midday on Wednesday, as crews battled fallen trees and challenging weather conditions to repair damage.
At the peak of the outage, more than 500,000 homes and businesses were left without power at the storms peak though crews worked to hard overnight to restore power to thousands on the states’ electricity network.
“Given the extent of the widespread damage, it may take days if not weeks to restore electricity to all of those impacted,” a Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) spokesperson posted to X.
Hundreds of power poles and lines were pulled down across the state, including six transmission towers near Anakie that physically collapsed in the wild weather.
The damage was so significant that Loy A Yang power station tripped and was disconnected from the grid, leading the Australian Energy Market Operator to cut load shed to relieve stress on remaining power stations.
However, this was cancelled soon after, and all 90,000 customers impacted by this have had their power restored.
Residents are being warned not to approach fallen power lines and instead call the faults and emergency number for their electricity distribution company, which can be found on their electricity bill.
An emergency bushfire warning remains in place for Pomonal and Bellfield in Victoria’s west as multiple homes have been lost to the fire.
Emergency services have warned residents it is too late to leave and the safest option is to immediately take shelter in doors.
As many as 30 homes have been destroyed by the blaze burning in the Grampians National Park.
The bushfire is currently out of control, with private land in the Pomonal area still at risk after the fire travelled in a south easterly direction on Tuesday.
State Response Controller Garry Cook said Wednesday’s improved weather conditions were helping fire crews in their efforts to contain the blazes burning in Pomonal and Bellfield.
“Conditions have certainly eased from what they were yesterday. The wind has moved around to the south, conditions are cooler, the humidity is up a lot higher than it was yesterday,” he said, as reported by the ABC.
Mr Cook said fire crews were confident the Bellfield blaze can be controlled on Wednesday but the extent of property damage and loss in Pomonal remains unclear.
“We know there are property losses. We don’t have the exact number at the moment but we will be having our Rapid Impact Assessment teams on the ground there very early this morning,” he said.
Four water bombing aircraft, 32 fire trucks and 120 firefighters have been deployed to the Grampians National Park, the ABC reported.
It is understood several blazes were sparked by a band of dry lightning on Tuesday and the Bellfield and Pomonal fire has burnt up to 6,000 hectares of bushland since it began.
The warnings come after several firefighters escaped a terrifying incident when their vehicle was overrun by flames as they battled the blaze on Tuesday. .
“CFA can confirm that five members sustained minor injuries after their vehicle was involved in a burnover while on the fireground at Pomonal near the Grampians National Park this afternoon,” the CFA said in a statement.
“The members have been assessed by paramedics. Any further details will be released when they become available.
“CFA has many hundreds of members on the fireground this evening and our priority is ensuring their safety as well as protecting the community.”
A watch and act warning remains in place for residents in parts of Dadswells Bridge, Ledcourt and Roses Gap despite a fire at Dadswells Bridge being reduced to an Advice message on Wednesday morning.
The threat for a bushfire at Newton, Ballarat has been reduced over night, however the fire has been deemed not yet under control.
While the fire has spread to the Ross Creek State Forest on Tuesday, the “fire behaviour and threat to communities is reduced.
Another bushfire burning in the Grampians National Park in Mt Stapylton is now under control and residents can “resume normal activities”.
Originally published as Fires destroy homes in Victoria as storm zaps power from 220,000 home for ‘days, if not weeks’
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