By Alexander Darling and Aisha Dow
Destructive winds of more than 70km/h left about 3500 properties without power north of Bendigo in the latest of a series of severe weather events expected to hit Victoria this week.
The high winds followed a huge dust storm that blanketed parts of Victoria and NSW earlier on Monday as it travelled east from South Australia.
Much-needed rain arrived in some parts of south-west Victoria on Monday afternoon.Credit: Justin McManus
Since 4pm, State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers have responded to 65 requests for help statewide – 51 for downed trees and nine for building damage. A spokesperson said Bendigo and Whittlesea had been the busiest areas for volunteers.
Wind gusts reached up to 125km/h at Mount Hotham.
At 8.40pm, just under 500 properties remained without power around the Midland Highway towns of Huntly, Goornong and Epsom, with crews expected to restore power there over the next few hours.
“Stay at least 10 metres clear of powerlines and always treat them as live,” a Powercor spokesman said.
On Monday night, the Bureau of Meteorology warned of damaging winds across Victoria, from Portland to Melbourne to the High Country.
The SES provided more localised weather warnings.
About 5pm on Monday, it issued a watch-and-act warning to residents between Warrenheip, just east of Ballarat, to Benambra near the NSW border, where wind gusts of up to 100km/h were forecast.
The SES suggested people stay indoors and park their cars away from trees.
A similar warning was issued to residents near Port Phillip Bay, which could experience gusts between 90km/h and 100km/h on Monday night. The wind is expected to ease by Tuesday morning.
A third alert warned people in coastal Victoria of abnormally high tides.
“[These] may lead to seawater flooding of low-lying areas of the Victorian coast. The highest tides are expected for Tuesday,” the SES said.
The dust storm in Mildura on Monday afternoon.Credit: Lisa Cooper
A wave of orange
The bureau said dry conditions were behind the dust storm affecting south-east Australia, and that dust had reduced visibility to 500 metres in some parts of Victoria and NSW, and reached as far as Swan Hill and Bendigo.
Rainfall has been below average for the past two years across much of western Victoria and eastern South Australia.
Photos and videos taken in Mildura on Monday afternoon show a wave of orange engulfing the inland city.
Images of the dust storm blanketing parts of South Australia were also posted online.
A video from the town of Orroroo by South Australian media personality Andrew “Cosi” Costello shows a thick orange haze reducing visibility to less than a few hundred metres.
In a statement on Monday night, the bureau said “a dust storm at this time of year is unusual for South Australia, which usually experiences dust storms in summer”.
In Victoria, the SES told residents to close doors and windows and remain indoors when the storm arrived.
The dust also travelled to NSW’s far west, with border areas reporting “extremely poor” air quality for several hours.
Sudden change
Laura, who works in Swan Hill, said she first noticed the dust while at work early Monday afternoon.
But then a thicker dust cloud blew over while she was driving home to Quambatook, 60 kilometres south. Within minutes, the visibility had dropped from one kilometre to as little as 30 metres.
“We haven’t got it as bad as [south-western Victoria], but we definitely need rain here,” she said.
“The dirt has crossed the road, so farmers won’t like that if they’ve started sowing crops already.”
The last dust storms to hit the region were in 2022 and 2019.
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