One dead and many damaged houses are the accounts of the natural disasters that have “struck” eastern Australia.
More specifically, one farmer was killed and more than 170,000 households and businesses were left without power due to fires and storms in Victoria, Australia, international media reports. Lightning has caused fires in several parts of the state. It was one of Victoria’s “biggest outages in history,” state Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said.
Victorian Premier Jacinda Allan confirmed the death of a 50-year-old man from South Gippsland, in the region’s east, as a result of the storms. She expressed her condolences to the victim’s family.
The 50-year-old was found dead on an estate in Darlymurla, where the authorities are also investigating the incident. The man, according to initial reports, was working on the property when he was struck by debris. However, the forensic report is awaited to confirm the cause of death. This is the second workplace death for 2024, compared to nine in the previous year in that period.
Chaos in Victoria: Wild Weather Causes Massive Power Outages and Bushfires#Victoria #Australia #Bushfire #poweroutage #BNN pic.twitter.com/kDbZZzBFae
— Nitish Verma (@nitsonnet) February 14, 2024
Power outages, surgery cancellations, closed schools
Fires are raging in western Victoria as authorities investigate how many homes have been lost. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses remain without power after damaging winds toppled major transmission towers and caused an outage at a coal-fired power station.
Firefighters are battling to bring the blazes under control overnight. A spokesman for the state emergency service said 124 of its 150 units had been deployed to deal with the problems.
The change in the wind was the reason that brought about the very rapid spread of the fire, with the firefighters being at the front of the fire, to protect the communities, as explained by the head of the corps.
Power outages have caused problems at Wonthaggi Hospital and Phillip Island Health Centre. This results in surgeries, treatments and tests for cancer patients, hemodialysis, pathology and even emergency dental appointments being cancelled. As the doctors emphasize, emergency services are on standby.
Some schools in central and western Victoria, as well as in south-east Melbourne, have been closed.
Power to 500,000 #Victoria homes and businesses has been knocked out
As 5 transmission towers have been blown down left a twisted mess Why did the transmission towers crumble? Have they been maintained property to withstand storms?
Where’s #JacintaAndrews? https://t.co/uqGrbTDIiq— Adem 🇦🇺 (@Adem_Flok) February 13, 2024
#Australia #mercy #bad #weather #fires