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 TAS: Gales cause widespread damage and blackouts
A deep low passing close to southern TAS brought sustained gales and some hurricane-force gusts this morning. The low deepened dramatically during the early hours of the morning as it tracked SE under the state, reaching a central pressure of 981hPa at 4am. The tight pressure gradient, particularly over the southern half of TAS, produced gale force winds for 6 or more hours, with Hobart City recording a top wind gust of 122km/h at 5.43am. This equalled the second highest November gust recorded in the capital in 1997, the strongest for November being 135km/h in 1957. Anemometers on Maatsuyker Island and at the summit of Mt Wellington recorded peak gusts of 163 and 165km/h respectively, while other high gusts were 144km/h at Scotts Peak Dam at Lake Pedder and 131km/h atop Keogh's Pimple in the Hartz Mountains west of Geeveston. Maatsuyker Island reported a 10-minute average windspeed of 133km/h at its 6am observation.
Widespread tree damage occurred, blocking roads and damaging houses while roofing iron was lifted on some houses and two or three homes lost most of their roofs. Hobart police received 128 incident reports between 2 and 10am while 60 SES personnel fielded about 100 calls for assistance. Police said the worst affected areas were Kingston, Snug and Huntingfield south of Hobart and the northern suburbs of Chigwell, Glenorchy and Rosetta. Aurora Energy said that about 19,000 properties lost power in and around Hobart, and at Port Arthur, Orford, Triabunna, Swansea and Dolphin Sands on the East Coast. Over 150 were without power for most of the day. Over 400 insurance claims had been lodged with the RACT by day's end, with damage expected to exceed $1m.
Winds were strong on the East Coast where three people were rescued by helicopter from a 40-tonne yacht that sank off Cape Tourville near Coles Bay late morning. A top wind gust of 102km/h was reported at Friendly Beaches, just north of Cape Tourville, as well as on Tasman Island to the south. Other high wind gusts from normally sheltered locations were 109km/h at Warra, near the Tahune Air Bridge NW of Geeveston, and 102km/h at Tunnack, 20km SE of Oatlands.
 WA: Bushfire burns over 100 square km in Pilbara
Lightning strikes started about 50 bushfires in the WA Pilbara, the worst of which, in the Karijini National Park south of Wittenoom Gorge, had covered over 100 square kilometres by Saturday afternoon. Other fires are burning in the Millstream-Chichester National Park south of Roebourne, while about 20 smaller fires are burning close to the Great Northern Highway and the Marble Bar to Newman Road causing hazardous driving conditions. Temperatures reaching 40C, gusty winds and high fuel loads have combined with inaccessibility to make fighting the fires difficult to impossible for firefighers.
NSW: Storm causes damage near Taree
A thunderstorm west of Taree caused damage and brought torrential rain around 3.30 this afternoon. A number of storm cells developed between 2 and 3pm in the Hunter Valley and on the Mid North Coast and moved slowly southeast, passing out to sea during the evening. Local press in Wingham and Taree reported "falls of as much 100mm in just 30 minutes from about 3.30pm" in the Upper Manning around Killawarra and Kimbriki, about 10km W of Wingham. Roads were damaged by flash flooding while a farm shed roof was blown off. The Nowendoc and Kimbriki Roads were closed by washaways or downed trees. Radar shows an intense rain area lingering over the area between about 3.15 and 4.15pm, but the heavy falls missed official gauges, though Kindee Bridge, 45km W of Port Macquarie, registered 56.0mm for the 24 hours to 9am Saturday.
NEWSBITS |
Maximum temperatures were around 8 to 14 above average near the Head of the Great Australian Bight in SA and WA today as hot northerlies swept south ahead of a trough over central WA. |
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