Weather News

More wild winds batter Victoria

Days of strong winds have caused widespread damage across Victoria. - ABC

Victoria has been battered by more wild winds, with gusts of around 100 kilometres per hour recorded in Melbourne.

The city's bayside suburbs recorded the strongest gusts, while the Latrobe Valley and parts of the state's north were hit by winds of more than 90 kilometres per hour.

The weather bureau's Dean Stewart says the windy conditions will continue today, with possible thunderstorms and hail around Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs and the Mornington Peninsula.

"[It's] still going to be quite gusty today, particularly this afternoon," he said.

"Once again the bayside areas probably will get the brunt of those winds this afternoon, with the potential for some more gusts close to 100 kilometres an hour, but after today there'll be a gradual easing, overnight tonight into tomorrow morning."

About 1,500 homes and businesses are still without power in Gippsland.

SP AusNet spokesman Jonathan Geddes says crews are finding it hard to find faults in remote areas.

"Our network is exposed to heavily tree-lined areas and we have dense populations living in those areas, unlike our other power companies in the west," he said.

"We have nearly 300 crew out there through shifts trying to deal with the strong winds and rain to get it back up and running."

The State Emergency Service (SES) spokesman Lachlan Quick says it has dealt with 3,600 calls for help since early on Wednesday morning.

"We have had 150 since last night, but most of those have been low-level," he said.

"It looks as though we're going to be busy again this afternoon if those winds start coming in at lunchtime. Our concern is obviously for trees down over traffic again.

"The Friday peak is a bit of a worry for us, we would urge people anywhere over a 60-zone to probably drop [their speed], just because there is going to be a lot of debris and trees around."

Mr Quick says more than 1,000 trees came down in a 36-hour period.


- ABC

© ABC 2012

More breaking news

ABC News
Sydney Morning Herald
National Nine News
News Limited

Strong winds batter TAS

12:01 EST Damaging westerly winds and showers have battered southern and western parts of TAS this weekend as a series of cold fronts crossed the state.