According to the Bureau of Meteorology, a severe weather warning remains in place for destructive winds throughout Victoria’s central, East Gippsland, Mallee, southwest, northern country, north central, north east, west and south Gippsland and Wimmera forecast districts.
Vigorous north-west to south-westerly winds are expected to impact much of Victoria during the day, particularly with showers and thunderstorms.
In its 10.40am update, the bureau said strong northwest to westerly winds averaging 50 to 60km/h with damaging gusts up to 100km/h over elevated areas and southwestern Victoria, would extend eastwards over the remainder of the warning area including Melbourne, during the afternoon and early evening.
Damaging west to southwesterly winds averaging 60 to 80km/h with gusts to 100 to 120km/h are likely to develop over the far southwest later Wednesday morning, and shift eastwards over southern parts of the central district during the afternoon, and into south Gippsland by the late afternoon.
A 94km/h wind gust was recorded at Warrnambool airport at 10.26am.
Conditions are expected to ease over the north and west later this afternoon, over central parts in the evening and over the southeast during Thursday morning.
Locations that may be affected include Shepparton, Seymour, Horsham, Warrnambool, Bendigo, Maryborough, Ballarat, Geelong, Melbourne, Wangaratta, Traralgon and Bairnsdale.
On Tuesday, Powercor head of network control and operations Peter Galey said extra field crews, controllers, dispatchers and contact centre specialists were being mobilised in preparation for today’s weather.
“Extreme winds like these are rare, but when they hit, they dramatically increase the risk of trees, branches or debris damaging our network and causing localised outages,” Mr Galey said.
“We’re closely monitoring weather conditions and will be ready to respond if power does go out.”
Mr Galey encouraged people to take steps now to be ready for the forecasted weather.
“Know what you would do if the power does go out — charge your phones, laptops and other devices, know how to open your garage door manually, and know where to turn for information,” he said.
“Make sure you are ready to enact your backup plan if you rely on life support equipment or need electrical items to care for others and have water available if your supply relies on power.”
Mr Galey reminded people that severe winds could bring down powerlines.
“Beware of fallen powerlines and always assume they are live,” he said.
“If you do find a fallen line, stay at least 10 metres away from them and contact us immediately on 132 412.”
People can find a live outages map at powercor.com.au/power-outages-and-emergencies/live-outage-map/
“Our networks are designed to cope with strong winds, but extreme conditions like those forecast increase the risk of power outages, so preparation is essential,” Mr Galey said.
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