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Weekend snow possible for Vic alps

April 10, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Victoria’s beautiful autumn weather may soon be coming to an end.

The weather bureau is predicting light snow falls in the Victorian alps this weekend.

Richard Russell from the weather bureau says a cold front will be arriving on Sunday with patchy rain.

He says temperatures will drop, especially in the alpine area.

“With that cold air moving through, some of those showers may start to fall as snow on the peaks later Sunday,” he said.

“Snow levels drop down to about 1,600 metres or so overnight Sunday and Monday morning.”

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Alpine Area, Autumn Weather, beautiful, bright, Cold Air, Cold Front, Light Snow, Monday morning, rain, Richard Russell, showers, Snow Levels, storm, temperatures, Vic, Victoria, Victorian Alps, weather, Weather Bureau

Todd River a ‘wall of water’: flood warning

April 10, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Alice Springs police have put out an urgent warning about a steep rise in the Todd River flow.

Water is surging through the usually dry Todd River in Alice Springs after heavy falls in the catchment overnight.

Alice Springs Superintendent Sean Parnell says within a matter of seconds a wall of water came down the river bed that cuts through the centre of Alice Springs.

“It is amazing, I have just been down at the Tunks Road Causeway and there was nothing happening there, and then within a matter of seconds there was a wall of water coming down and it was fairly steady strong flow at the moment,” Supt Parnell said.

He immediately called for people to get out of the river

“They should remove themselves and stay out of the river,” Supt Parnell said.

“It only takes a matter of seconds for the flow to come down.”

Supt Parnell says all causeways with the exception of Taffy Pick causeway will be closed this morning.

A Melbourne man driving through Alice Springs says the water in the river is overflowing onto the roads.

“When we first saw it at the start at Anzac Hill we saw it roaring down the river. We thought we ought to drive to one of the roads to watch it come up to the road and there was just no water running down the river and then there was just a wall of water coming down it was amazing.”

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a flood threat advice for the Alice Springs district.

Forecaster Ashley Patterson says there is a broad band of active thunderstorms extending from the Tanami across Alice Springs to Birdsville.

Mr Paterson said there have been some falls of up to 30 millimetres in some parts overnight but only scattered showers to the north.

“Not much in the Barkly at present one or two storms out on the eastern parts. I think we’ll see isolated showers and storms later today but pretty isolated compared to the Alice Springs district,” Mr Patterson said.

The weather bureau’s Mark Kersemakers says heavy rain is expected to continue across the Alice Springs district this afternoon.

“Certainly the event is not over for another couple of days I would say. Central Australia should still get some further falls and they could be a lot heavier than even the last 24-hours,” Mr Kersemakers said.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Alice Springs, Australia, Barkly, Birdsville, Broad Band, Bureau Of Meteorology, causeway, Causeways, darwin, Flood Threat, Flow Water, heavy rain, millimetres, Mr Patterson, nt, rainfall, River Flow, Sean Parnell, steep rise, storm, Supt, Tanami, wall of water, Water Flood, weather, Weather Bureau

Thunderstorms flood outback SA

April 10, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Thunderstorms have lashed Roxby Downs in outback South Australia, flooding roads and several properties in the town.

The first storm hit about 7:30pm on Thursday and another front swept through early Friday.

More than 85 millimetres of rain fell at the airport.

Service station worker Terry Luckett says it has not rained so hard in at least 20 years.

“Quite used to Queensland weather and it sort of resembled that for probably two or three hours there. It just constantly was coming down, quite heavy,” he said.

“On and off I’ve been here since 1990, so [in] 20 years this is the first time we’ve seen it like this.”

Vicky Visser owns a cafe in Richardson Place which has been flooded.

“I pulled up at the shop and literally had to wade through knee-deep to get into the shop,” she said.

“We have had all night in clean-up so the coffee machine is on and the food is getting hot and the sandwiches are getting made so we’re going to be, hopefully, all systems go, albeit a little rearranged.”

More than 85 millimetres has also been recorded at nearby Andamooka.

Dams are overflowing and houses have been flooded.

Supermarket owner Cassandra Lion says the water rushed down the main street.

“One gentleman we found this morning on the roof of his four-wheel-drive that’d been spun around 180 degrees by a surge of water and he was trapped there,” she said.

“At one stage the water was actually halfway up his front windscreen.

“There are a couple of houses across the creek from where I am at the moment that were under water.”

Another Andamooka resident Kyle Christensen says it is the best rain he can remember since 1975.

“We’ve had so many years of drought and that that we’ve been probably looking for this rain and then all of a sudden instead of it raining a normal rain it just buckets down,” he said.

Senior forecaster Peter Webb says the rain is continuing.

“We still currently have a severe thunderstorm warning for an area covering Marla from Coober Pedy down to just north of Port Augusta and up to Moomba, so that wedge of area up in the north-east pastoral, including the northern parts of the Flinders, can expect further thunderstorms with heavy falls during the morning,” he said.

More than 60 millimetres fell at Leigh Creek in the 24 hours to 9:00am and 33 millimetres fell at Woomera.

Crop hopes

In other areas of the state, farmers are considering an early start to seeding because of this week’s rain.

Many are already reporting good soil moisture.

Rural consultant Barry Mudge says farmers need to weigh up how they will manage to avoid frost damage during the winter months and any early heat in spring.

He says some Mallee farmers have already planted feed crops but farmers usually wait on good rains around Anzac Day.

“My feeling from talking to a lot of farmers is they’re saying, ‘yeah, perhaps we can come maybe a week earlier than we’re used to,’ but a lot of people are saying, ‘look, we need to get through to at least April 20,’ and even then it’s only going to be done as a bit of a risk management tool,” he said.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: agricultural crops, Australia, buckets, Cassandra, coffee machine, coober-pedy-5723, dams, drought, Emergency Incidents, forecaster, four wheel drive, gentleman, marla, millimetres, Outback Australia, Peter Webb, Port Augusta, Port Pirie, Queensland Weather, rainfall, Renmark, Richardson Place, roxby-downs, rural, Sa, sandwiches, Severe Thunderstorm Warning, South Australia, storm, vicky, Visser, weather, windscreen

Downpour Adelaide’s biggest in years

April 7, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Adelaide’s rainfall in the past day has been the heaviest in three years.

The city recorded nearly 33 millimetres until 9:00am and 43mm at Adelaide Airport.

Crafers West in the Adelaide hills had more than 70mm of rainfall.

Many suburbs had power outages and there was widespread minor flooding across the suburbs.

Vince Rowlands from the weather bureau says it is a long time since the city has had such a downpour.

“The last time we had anything about the 33 millimetres at Kent Town was on the 27th of April in 2007 when we had 39 millimetres fall in the city on that particular day,” he said.

The State Emergency Service says it has had hundreds of call-outs to deal with flooding.

Wet roads were blamed for a crash in the Adelaide hills which put two people in hospital, one in a critical condition.

Police think the driver lost control on a bend of the Mount Torrens-Tungkillo Road, at about 10:00am.

The man,36, has serious head and chest injuries and a woman passenger, 25, has critical head injuries.

Both were airlifted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: adelaide-5000, Australia, disasters-and-accidents, Emergency Incidents, port-augusta-5700, port-lincoln-5606, port-pirie-5540, rainfall, rural, Sa, storm, weather

Wild storm lashes Alice

April 7, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Northern Territory emergency services say trees fell across houses during a wild storm in Alice Springs last night.

Volunteer crews were called out to deal with the damage after 8:00pm (ACST).

Power and Water, the Alice Springs Town Council and police were all involved in efforts to restore services.

Dave Anderson from emergency services says strong winds centred on a small part of Alice Springs but caused significant damage.

“It seemed to be very isolated,” he said.

“The whole area got some wind and some rain over a very short period of time and then the northside from roughly northside shops through to the industrial area got hit pretty badly, brought down a lot of trees, brought down a few powerlines and a couple of trees onto houses that brought some structural damage.”

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: alice-springs-0870, Emergency Incidents, storm

Thousands without power in rain, storms

April 7, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Thousands of houses in Adelaide, the mid-north and lower Flinders Ranges of South Australia have been without power because of rain and thunderstorms.

Worst-affected areas have included Peterborough, Booleroo Centre, Wirrabara and Adelaide’s north, east and west.

ETSA says crews have been working to restore supplies across a wide area.

In Adelaide, more than 7,500 properties in the northern and western suburbs have been without electricity, including thousands in the Woodville area and some at West Lakes.

On the west coast of the state, an outage affected hundreds of homes at Streaky Bay.

Craig Bassington from the State Emergency Service says there have been numerous call-outs to deal with minor flooding and fallen trees.

“Majority of these are water entering, the rain entering through the house,” he said.

“The gutters are blocked by the quantity of water and it’s coming back in under the roof line.”

Crafers West in the Adelaide hills had more than 70 millimetres of rain and the city had more than 30mm overnight and on Tuesday morning.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: adelaide-5000, Australia, disasters-and-accidents, Emergency Incidents, peterborough-5422, port-augusta-5700, port-lincoln-5606, port-pirie-5540, rainfall, rural, Sa, storm, streaky-bay-5680, weather, wirrabara-5481

Counting the cost from the storm

April 1, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

The damage bill from last week’s storm has spiralled to more than $650 million after nearly 90,000 claims were made to insurance companies.

The hail storm caused chaos when it hit Perth and the South West.

Roads were flooded, about 200,000 homes were blacked out and buildings and cars were damaged.

The initial cost of the storm was $100 million but the Insurance Council of Australia says that figure has risen to $650 million.

The Council says insurance companies have received 89,000 claims.

The revised estimate comes a day after the State Government announced changes to the way hail-damaged cars are classified by insurers.

Under the temporary changes, people can continue driving their car once it has been written off if the damage is deemed cosmetic.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: $100 million, accidents, Buildings And Cars, chaos, disasters-and-accidents, Hail Damaged Cars, Hail Storm, insurance, insurance companies, Insurance Council Of Australia, perth, perth-6000, road accidents, state government, storm, wa, weather, West Roads

Power fully restored but the costs spiral

April 1, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

John Cummings could only stand by and watch as workers at his IGA Glengarry supermarket threw out more than 200 kilograms of cut beef and 500 kilograms of chicken.

Then went 50 two litre ice cream tubs, 60 cartons of milk and about 15 cartons of frozen vegetables along with other perishable items.

His was only one business among many that were badly affected by the power being knocked out in last week’s storm.

Western Power says 158,000 customers including houses, schools and universities, were hit by power outages.

It took the company four days to fully restore what the storm knocked out in minutes.

While Mr Cummings was counting the cost, Ken Brown was at the centre of the recovery effort.

As Western Power’s General Manager System Management it was his task to get the power back on as soon as possible and he needed all hands on deck.

“We geared up to make sure we had emergency crews available,” he says.

With lightning strikes lasting through the night, Mr Brown says the recovery effort was slowed because there was a heightened level of risk affecting maintenance crews.

“The number one issue is safety so that any wires that are down must be fixed as soon as possible or at least made safe. We try and get as many hazards out of the way before restoring.

The storm caused about 900 hazards which caused high voltage areas to automatically shut down.

“500 were house wires down and the other 400 were trees in mains, leaning poles, arcing wires,” Mr Brown says.

“Traffic lights were out, sewerage pumping stations and communications areas so we were trying to get those back as fast as we could,” he says.

He says this was the most severe storm he had been faced with in more than 15 years and it was the largest event in terms of resources and logistics.

To ensure the public didn’t touch fallen powerlines which could still be live, police and 35 specialist Western Power staff were sent to the locations and waited for emergency crews to come and fix the fallen lines.

More than 500 workers from Western Power were involved on the ground in the recovery effort.

Contractors, crews and resources were brought in from country Western Australia and about 30 people from Victoria to help with the recovery effort.

Mr Brown says the recovery effort went well given the scale of the operation but Western Power will be doing a full debrief to see what needs to be done for the next big storm.

Mounting costs

Back at the supermarket, the costs were mounting.

Mr Cummings estimates more than $15,000 of meat alone had to be thrown out and he says because people didn’t have power, they weren’t buying perishable items like milk and frozen goods.

“Sales were poor. People were eating hand-to-mouth because they had no fridge and they couldn’t cook because they had no power.”

He is still waiting to hear whether insurance will cover the store’s losses.

Mr Cummings estimates the supermarket industry lost sales somewhere between $100 million and $150 million.

In the meantime, Mr Cummings and Perth supermarkets have a new set of challenges with customers’ back pockets further affected by a limited supply of some fresh fruit and vegetables because the storm wiped out some crops.

The damage bill from last week’s storm has spiralled to more than $650 million after nearly 90,000 claims were made to insurance companies.

The initial cost of the storm was $100 million but the Insurance Council of Australia says that figure has kept rising.

The revised estimate comes a day after the State Government announced changes to the way hail-damaged cars are classified by insurers.

Under the temporary changes, people can continue driving their car once it has been written off if the damage is deemed cosmetic.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: cartons, Emergency Crews, Frozen Vegetables, Glengarry, High Voltage, John Cummings, Ken Brown, kilograms, lightning strikes, Live Police, mains, Maintenance Crews, mr brown, perth-6000, power outages, Powerlines, Pumping Stations, rainfall, Recovery Effort, schools and universities, storm, System Management, traffic lights, wa, weather

River warning

March 27, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

The Health Department says the Swan and Canning rivers are not safe for swimming or fishing after sewage was washed into the catchment in Monday’s storm.

More than 40 fish have died and crabs and marron have crawled onto the river banks to avoid the contaminated water.

Two sewerage stations in Perth have overflowed, with the run off washing into the rivers.

Jim Dodds from the Health Department says it is not safe to eat anything from the Swan or Canning rivers.

“Don’t eat shell fish from the river, they are an organism that concentrates everything from the river and you can never be sure what’s in the river especially in a catchment like this.

The Swan River Trust and the Department of Fisheries are trying to rescue the marron from the rivers.

The Department’s Craig Lawrence says no fish or freshwater crayfish have been found alive.

“It’s a worry, we’ve actually covered about 75 percent of the river now and we still have 25 percent left which we’re hoping will still have something in it,” he said.

“I haven’t seen this sort of situation before.”

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Canning Rivers, catchment, contaminated water, crabs, Craig Lawrence, department of fisheries, disasters-and-accidents, environment, Freshwater Crayfish, health department, Jim Dodds, Marron, organism, perth, perth-6000, river banks, rivers, sewage, Shell Fish, storm, swan, Swan River Trust, wa, weather, worry.

Storm claims reach $200 million mark

March 26, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

The Insurance Council of Australia says the value of claims from Monday’s storm in Perth has risen to more than $200 million.

More than 42,000 claims have been filed since the storm which caused significant damage to homes, cars and businesses.

The total value of the claims has now reached $203 million.

School damage

The WA Education Department has defended its decision to allow students from storm damaged schools in Perth to remain at home for the rest of the term.

Years 8, 9 and 10 students at Ocean Reef Senior High School, Duncraig Senior High School and Shenton College will not be allowed back until April 20.

The Deputy Director General of Schools, Marjorie Evans says work will be posted on school websites that students must complete at home.

She says all year 11 and 12 students will be attending school.

Crops destroyed

The organisation representing vegetable growers in WA says the heavy rain and large hail stones decimated crops in some areas.

Jim Turley from Vegetables WA says growers will be left millions of dollars out of pocket.

“This is a once in 50 years storm and we haven’t had significant losses like this in the Perth metropolitan area for many many years,” he said.

“It has been absolutely devastating in the Carabooda-west Gingin area in particular and amongst those growers the hardest hit crops have been lettuce and tomatoes.”

Fish deaths

Fish are dying and shell fish are crawling out of the Swan and Canning rivers as the run off from Monday’s storm flushes contaminants into the waterways.

The Swan River Trust says organic matter and sewage washing into the rivers is causing a lack of oxygen in the water.

The Department of Fisheries has been called in to help collect marron from the banks of the Canning River and store them until the river is healthy again.

Mark Cugley from Swan River Trust says an investigation into the deaths is continuing.

“We received reports of fish deaths in the vicinity of Guildford and Caversham and also near the Middle Swan bridge, there were 40 fish that were reported, our officers have been out there and are taking water samples of that area,” he said.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Canning River, Canning Rivers, Caversham, department of fisheries, duncraig-6023, Education, Fish Deaths, Gingin, Hail Stones, heavy rain, Insurance Council Of Australia, Jim Turley, lack of oxygen, Marjorie Evans, Ocean Reef Senior High School, ocean-reef-6027, organic matter, Perth Metropolitan Area, Schools In Perth, Shell Fish, shenton-park-6008, storm, Swan River Trust, Vegetable Growers, Wa Education Department

Asbestos fears after storm

March 26, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Exposure to asbestos has emerged as the latest health threat after this week’s destructive storm in Perth.

The storm ripped through Perth on Monday, bringing heavy rain and hail and causing widespread damage.

The WA Health Department says asbestos cement sheeting from sheds or fences may have been broken in the storm posing a health risk from the release of asbestos fibres.

People are being told to wear protective clothing and dampen the asbestos before removing it.

The material must be taken to an approved landfill site.

Concerns have also been raised about food hygiene after lengthy power outages across Perth.

The department says once power has been lost, food would only remain safe for two to four hours in a fridge and no more than two and a half days in a freezer.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Asbestos Cement, Asbestos Fibres, Cement Sheeting, Destructive Storm, fences, Food Hygiene, freezer, fridge, Half Days, health risk, Health Threat, heavy rain, landfill site, Latest Health, perth, perth-6000, power outages, protective clothing, Rain And Hail, rainfall, sheds, storm, wa, Wa Health Department, weather

Perth’s big clean up

March 25, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Two days after the storm that rocked Perth, the magnitude of the clean-up confronting households, businesses and institutions is now starting to set in.

For some businesses the cost of the damage is yet to peak. Others are unsure whether they can continue operating from their storm-ravaged premises.

Clayton Arnold owns a furniture business in Osborne Park. His warehouse was damaged by hail smashing through the roof.

The storm destroyed some of his stock, and ruined the tools of his trade – his sewing machines.

“It (the storm) only lasted about 10 minutes but the damage could be anywhere up to $400,000,” he says.

With no work in the short-term, Mr Arnold yesterday told his 40 factory workers to take an early Easter break as he attempts to save his warehouse.

He remains optimistic and if the electrician gives the green the light, he hopes to re-open just after Easter.

Around the corner from Mr Arnold’s shop is an educational supplies store also hit hard by the storm.

General Manager Daniel Rohr says his shop was inundated with water.

“We practically had a waterfall coming down the middle of the store,” says Mr Rohr who describes the amount of water as being ‘ankle deep’.

The floor is destroyed and there is a horrible odour from the water damage. Up to half of his stock is ruined but the biggest concern is the state of the shop’s asbestos roof which the storm punched holes through, making the building unsafe to work in.

Mr Rohr has had to close the outlet and salvage as much stock as possible.

He will transfer the stock to a separate warehouse which he hopes to open this weekend.

Up the road, the news could be even worse for a furniture and homewares supplier. The force of the storm ripped off half of its roof, causing extensive damage to the showroom and stock.

Over at Crawley, glaziers are removing irreplaceable leadlight and glass from the University of Western Australia’s Winthrop Hall.

The greenkeepers are removing fallen trees and branches and the grounds are returning to some semblance of normality.

However the ground floor of the Education, Fine Arts and Architecture Library is still flooded with water and sand as the University considers just how to remove the debris.

Here too, the impact of cost of the storm is yet to be determined.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Asbestos Roof, disasters-and-accidents, Educational Supplies, electrician, Furniture Business, Glaziers, Greenkeepers, hail, Leadlight, magnitude, Mr Arnold, odour, Osborne Park, perth, perth-6000, Rohr, salvage, Sewing Machines, storm, university of western australia, wa, Water Damage, waterfall, weather, Winthrop Hall

Bunbury helps Perth storm clean-up

March 24, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Emergency service crews from Bunbury are heading to Perth to help authorities deal with a backlog of calls for help after yesterday’s freak storm hit the city, causing widespread damage.

Five State Emergency Service crews will help in the clean up after the storm dumped heavy rain and hail on the city, smashing car windows, flooding roads and causing widespread power blackouts during peak hour traffic.

Emergency service personnel say it is the worst storm damage they have seen for 16 years.

Marisa Chapman from Western Power says more than 95,000 customers around the city remain without power.

She says it is one of the worst storms the city has seen.

“Certainly, the only one that would be close to an equivalent would be 1994, I think there were about 60,000 homes that were affected, but we had about half the population, so it’s a bit difficult to compare, but certainly it’s one of the worst storms that Western Power has faced,” she said.

The Fire and Emergency Services Authority says so far there has been no reported damage in the south-west.

However, a Bunbury man was lucky to escape injury after being struck by lightning.

The man, known as John, says lightning struck a calculator in his pocket.

“Just as I left the house I’ve never heard a crack of thunder like it in my life, I had this calculator in my pocket and it actually hit it and it jumped out of my bloody pocket,” he said.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Australia, authorities, backlog, bunbury-6230, calculator, Car Windows, chapman, crack, disasters-and-accidents, Emergency Incidents, Emergency Services Authority, emergency-planning, Fire And Emergency Services, freak storm, heavy rain, lightning, peak hour, perth, population, Power Blackouts, Rain And Hail, Service Crews, State Emergency Service, storm, storm damage, storms, wa, weather

Mid West storm ‘like a mini tornado’

March 24, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

The State Emergency Service (SES) has responded to dozens of calls for help after fierce thunderstorms lashed WA’s Mid West and Gascoyne.

Sunday’s heavy rain was yesterday accompanied by strong winds through the lower Mid West.

In Eneabba, the SES was kept busy securing houses damaged in the storm.

The Western Flora Caravan Park on the Brand Highway appears to have taken the brunt of the storms.

The park’s manager, Allan Tinker, suspects a mini tornado tore through the area.

“Very quickly the sky really turned black and then it started to swirl,” he said.

“I’ve never seen that and we’ve been here 20 odd years. After the event, we found a caravan on its side, various parts of buildings had been ripped off and numerous trees spread around like match sticks, just absolutely torn apart.”

The storms have delivered much needed rain fall across much of the northern agricultural region.

Wayne Park from the Department of Agriculture and Food says the region’s lupin and canola growers are set to sow in five weeks time.

“At this time of year, any rainfall is good rainfall because it does build up soil moisture bank,” he said.

“Hopefully this isn’t just a flash in a pan and that there is more to come.”

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: 20 Odd Years, agricultural crops, agricultural region, brunt, Canola Growers, caravan park, department of agriculture, Department Of Agriculture And Food, disasters-and-accidents, Emergency Incidents, Eneabba, eneabba-6518, Gascoyne, geraldton-6530, heavy rain, Lupin, Mid West, Mini Tornado, Rain Fall, rainfall, rural, soil moisture, State Emergency Service, storm, strong winds, time of year, wa, Wayne Park