Severe storm causes blackouts, damage in Australian state of Victoria
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A severe thunderstorm alert was issued on Aug the night of Aug 25 for Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, warning of damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SYDNEY – Thousands of people in the Australian state of Victoria have been left without power following damaging storms.
As at the morning of Aug 26, there were 24 unplanned outages in the electricity network affecting 2,800 homes and businesses in northern and eastern Victoria after severe weather swept across the state on the evening of Aug 25, according to energy company AusNet Services.
The Australian State Emergency Service (SES) reported receiving 471 calls for assistance till the morning of Aug 26, with intense winds causing widespread damage.
Of the calls for assistance to the SES, 261 were related to fallen trees, 130 to building damage and 39 to flooding and property damage.
A severe thunderstorm alert was issued on the night of Aug 25 for Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, warning of damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall.
Winds exceeding 100kmh were recorded at the Melbourne Airport as the storm hit the city at 6.15pm local time (4.15pm Singapore time) and gusts of almost 150kmh were recorded elsewhere in the state.
“It’s a very dynamic and dangerous situation,” SES state duty officer Andrew Feagan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on the afternoon of Aug 25.
“There’s large hail, 3cm to 5cm hail, that is very, very dangerous and can potentially cause life-threatening injuries.”
The Bureau of Meteorology said the worst of the storm would pass through Victoria on the night of Aug 25 and at 4.30am local time on Aug 26 cancelled a severe weather warning that was in place for the state’s east.
Melbourne is forecast to reach a maximum temperature of 18 deg C on Aug 26 and 20 deg C on Aug 27 with strong winds. XINHUA
