By Lachlan Abbott
Thousands of properties lost power during a night of storms across Victoria before temperatures climbed towards 40 degrees on Monday.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Olympic Park station recorded Melbourne’s temperature at 34.8 degrees at 1.40pm, and forecasters predict temperatures will rise into the evening.
An emergency bushfire warning remains active for Mirranatwa, a farming community nestled between two ridges at the southern end of the Grampians mountain range in western Victoria.
Emergency services officials will speak at a State Control Centre press conference scheduled for 3pm after thunderstorms and lightning caused damage across the state on Sunday night.
The State Emergency Service (SES) responded to 740 calls for help in the 24 hours to 6am on Monday, including 415 for downed trees, 193 for building damage and 93 for flash flooding.
About half were in Greater Geelong as a storm rolled through on Sunday evening, dumping hail and ripping the roof off at least one home.
A Victorian State Emergency Services worker clears storm damage near Clifton Springs on Sunday night.Credit: Nine News
Storms then rumbled east to Melbourne, where Fire Rescue Victoria said a lightning strike was the possible cause of a house fire in Taylors Lakes.
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.
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.
Lightning was believed to have struck this house in Taylors Lakes, sparking a fire. Credit: Nine News
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. This declined to about 2600 customers without power around 1.45pm, including outages on Phillip Island and eastern Melbourne suburbs such as Ringwood.
In western Victoria, PowerCor reported 2440 customers were suffering from unplanned outages around 1.44pm, many of them in Geelong.
Bushfires threaten in western Victoria
In the Grampians, hot northerly winds are expected to push a blaze on the western Victoria Range south towards Dunkeld.
However, the updated emergency alert for Mirranatwa at 10.30am said: “The spread of the fire has been slowed, [and] crews continue to work on building containment lines and suppressing fire activity.”
The hamlet of Mirranatwa has continually been under threat since bushfires erupted in the tinder-dry Grampians in December.
First, a lightning strike on December 17 triggered a blaze in dense bushland near Yarram Gap Road that burnt 76,000 hectares and threatened Halls Gap. Emergency services said that fire was contained on January 6 after it destroyed four homes in Moyston and Mafeking, 40 outbuildings, 1285 beehives, 775 sheep, a horse and a cow.
On January 27, lightning ignited another three fires.
The Bullawin Road fire in the southern Grampians is the biggest still burning and most dangerous.
It has so far burnt 30,000 hectares around the Victoria Range and has triggered several alerts for communities on the Grampians’ western edge.
A community information notice for air quality has been issued for the towns of Cavendish, Coleraine, Penshurst, Dunkeld, Glenthompson and Hamilton as smoke and ash from the fire drifts south.
The Henty Highway has been closed between Horsham and Cavendish. A relief centre has been set up at the Hamilton Performing Arts Centre.
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.
In the Otway Ranges, a watch-and-act warning was issued for the outskirts of Apollo Bay as bushfires at Hordern Vale and Cape Horn flared early on Monday afternoon.
However, much of the Great Ocean Road town remains under an advice message that says there is no current threat, but locals should monitor conditions.
Back in Melbourne, there is a chance of a thunderstorm on Monday afternoon and evening.
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