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Sections of the highway connecting Tasmania's west coast to Hobart have been closed as the SES urges people to prepare for more severe weather.

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00:00Well, right where I am, the sun's just popped out, so it's not too bad where I am at New
00:05Norfolk.
00:06And you can see behind me the town and the River Derwent.
00:10I can get to that a little in a short while, just about some of the issues that this area
00:15is facing later today.
00:17But across the state, authorities have described it as an unprecedented weather event.
00:23The latest advice from TasNetworks is that there's around 32,000 properties without power
00:29across the state, so many communities affected.
00:33The state emergency services received around 330 calls for assistance over the past 24
00:39hours, which is a very large volume in a small state like Tasmania, and that's mainly for
00:45issues relating to destructive winds that have hit the state.
00:48So things like fallen trees, damaged roofs, broken windows.
00:55Police have also responded to something like almost 600 incidents over the past 24 hours.
01:00So really a lot of issues.
01:02The winds have been extremely damaging.
01:05Many communities having gusts in excess of 100 kilometres an hour.
01:09On Matsuka Island overnight, the wind speeds hit 187 kilometres an hour.
01:16There are 17 warnings in place across the state.
01:20Four of them, the most serious, are watch and acts relating to flooding.
01:26So really a wide variety of areas that are impacted, including this area just to the
01:31northwest of Hobart, near New Norfolk, upstream from New Norfolk.
01:36There are roads that are closed throughout the state, a very long list of roads that
01:41are impacted from fallen trees and the like.
01:45Parts of the West Coast, I was hearing earlier today, had been cut off.
01:48I'm not sure for how long that'll last.
01:50The Spirit of Tasmania, the ferry that runs from Devonport to Geelong, has been cancelled
01:56this evening.
01:57Passengers can still board the vessel in Devonport and will stay on the vessel overnight until
02:03the weather conditions improve for the ship to be able to travel back to Geelong.
02:08And authorities are saying that even though the conditions are easing at the moment, there
02:13is forecast to be some really severe weather coming through tonight.
02:17So this issue isn't going to be finishing any time soon.
02:21Janna, I know it's a busy situation for authorities right round Tasmania and our ABC News crews
02:27are getting to as many locations as possible.
02:30One of our crews caught up with the Derwent Valley Mayor, Michelle Draculis, and this
02:34is what she told us.
02:36We are prepared for this though.
02:38Our council has modelled this scenario before and we're just going through the actions to
02:42make sure everyone is safe and prepared.
02:44My advice to people is listen to the Tas Alert app if you have it, listen to the SES.
02:50Do be prepared if you live in a low-lying area.
02:52Have your things ready, have your pets ready, and just listen to instruction.
02:57Yeah, Janna, a really worrying time for people there.
03:01What provisions are being made for people that might need to leave their homes?
03:04Yeah, Lorna, so where I am here in New Norfolk, there is an emergency evacuation shelter that
03:11has been set up.
03:12There's already some people using that.
03:13There were 25 permanent residents at the local caravan park that were evacuated back
03:18on Friday night.
03:19They've been utilising that facility.
03:22But later on today, an area upstream of the River Derwent, upstream from New Norfolk,
03:28between Meadowbank and Macquarie Plains, that's the area that authorities have a lot of concerns
03:34about.
03:35Later on, the high tide will coincide with the river rising and that could potentially
03:41inundate some properties there.
03:43If people are still in place, they could be isolated for a number of days if that happens.
03:49So the State Emergency Service is door-knocking local residents, and later on today they may
03:55have to move.
03:56At this stage, it's a watch and act.
03:59People are asked to prepare their evacuation plans, and if they need to, they can come
04:04to this emergency evacuation centre that's in New Norfolk.
04:08But really the main concern is later on in the afternoon, going into the evening, when
04:12it's going to be getting dark.
04:13That's the last thing authorities want to have to deal with when it's dark and people
04:16are having to evacuate.
04:18And Jarno, what is the Bureau of Meteorology saying to you about what conditions will be
04:22like later on?
04:24Well, I think we can anticipate that there will be very severe weather conditions later
04:29on in the evening.
04:30Another front is expected to come through and hit the state, and that will mean that
04:35this situation, this unprecedented situation where we've seen front after front after
04:40front come through, is going to continue into tomorrow.
04:44Jarno Gibson, live for us in Tasmania, thank you.

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