Weather leaves trail of woe in Australia

[tropicana]

Weather leaves trail of woe

Thursday
October 28, 2004 - 11:43AM


High winds and blustery conditions continue to affect the south-eastern seaboard today (Thursday) leaving commuters struggling to get into work.

Traffic came to a standstill on many stretches of Melbourne's motorways this morning as drivers struggled in treacherous conditions. State Emergency Services chased about about 40 outstanding calls, although that figure is well down on Wednesday's 1,200 calls for assistance.

In Port Phillip, wind of up to 30 knots and waves as high as two metres are predicted.

There is good news though for Flemington racegoers after fears the swollen Maribyrnong River could flood the track less than one week before the Melbourne Cup. Organisers of the Melbourne Cup Carnival said the water had subsided and the forecast for the next race day on Saturday was for fine weather.


In New South Wales, thousands of homes were left without power Wednesday and a fire-damaged factory in Sydney's south-west was toppled by wind. Trains and ferries were cancelled as winds topped 100 kilometres an hour.


The NSW State Emergency Service logged nearly 1500 calls.

Energy Australia said about 10,000 homes were without power, mainly on Sydney's North Shore, northern beaches, St George and Sutherland Shire and the NSW central coast.

Although supplies have been restored to many homes, the company has continued overnight to log fresh calls for assistance after felled trees pulled down power lines.

The RACV's breakdown service was flooded with 6,000 calls and in many areas there were delays of up to two hours for roadside assistance.

Wednesday's winds topped 100 kilometres an hour in Melbourne. Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Ward Rooney said two-thirds of the state was affected.

"The only area not affected by the storms has been the north-west corner," he said.

"Everywhere else has been hit by the winds or rain or both."

The bureau said most suburbs across Melbourne received rainfalls of between 35 millimetres and 40 millimetres between midnight and midday on Wednesday.

-justin-

[KWT]

I was in Austrialia at the time and remember hearing of it and saw the damage,there was quite a few trees uprooted as well as 60MM of rain fell.