Conditions easing for much of the nation while coldfront moves over Western Australia

Wind, flooding, and coastal hazards easing back after a wild few days around parts of south-east Australia.

Transcript

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.