Wind, flooding, and coastal hazards easing back after a wild few days around parts of south-east Australia.
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00:00Hello from the Bureau with an update on the damaging winds, the major flooding and the
00:04coastal hazards that are affecting southeastern parts of the country.
00:08Now, overnight last night we had a very strong cold front that moved across the region and
00:13there were widespread wind gusts observed in excess of 90 km per hour, which is shown
00:18here by these red dots, with some isolated wind gusts in excess of 125 km per hour through
00:25central parts of Victoria and eastern parts with these pink dots.
00:29Now the front moved through the Melbourne area around 2am this morning and brought some
00:34really gusty showers and some locally destructive winds, including a 141 km per hour gust over
00:41Port Phillip Bay and St Kilda Sur a gust of 112 km per hour.
00:47Now although the locally destructive wind gusts have now eased, we're still observing
00:51wind gusts in excess of 90 km per hour, and for that reason there is a severe weather
00:58warning for these damaging winds in place that extends from the far southeastern parts
01:03of South Australia through Victoria up into the eastern parts of New South Wales, as far
01:08north as the Hunter.
01:10Now we're expecting the winds to gradually ease from the west and to be cancelled throughout
01:14South Australia later this afternoon, and gradually easing for all of the wind warnings
01:19to be cancelled by late tonight.
01:23Now winds of this strength however do have the potential to bring down trees, branches
01:27that may cause property damage and also causing power outages and hazardous driving conditions
01:34as well.
01:35So if you do need to be on the roads, please take care.
01:39Now we also have the Coastal Hazard Warning for damaging surf for western and central
01:44parts of Victoria that may lead to coastal erosion, and abnormally high tides are expected
01:50through Port Phillip Bay and Western Port during 3pm to 6pm that may lead to inundation
01:56of low-lying areas, and for Lakes Entrance their high tide may lead to inundation of
02:03low-lying areas between 6pm and 9pm this evening.
02:07But we are expecting these coastal hazards to ease overnight into tomorrow morning.
02:13So let's see the strong winds that are pushing across southeastern parts and easing, but
02:19in particular the showers across Tasmania are starting to become more isolated as we
02:24move into tonight and into tomorrow.
02:27Now this is significant because we do have minor to major flooding throughout large parts
02:33of Tasmania including the major flooding in the Upper Derwent.
02:38Now it is expected to peak this afternoon at 8.2m and that's record-breaking floods,
02:44so it's higher than the floods that they experienced back in 2016 and even 1980.
02:50So the fact that we're seeing the showers starting to ease is great news as the water
02:54starts to make its way downstream.
02:58So if you or anyone you know lives within these areas of southeastern parts of the country
03:03it's really important to stay up to date with the latest warnings via the Bureau's website,
03:07the app or social media, and as always listen to the advice from your local emergency services.
03:14Bye for now.