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Paula Kruger reported this story on Saturday, October 16, 2010 08:15:00 Listen to MP3 of this story ( minutes)
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Date Posted: 13/11/10 2:50:26
The full story...
Wild weather rages across Victoria and NSW
Paula Kruger reported this story on Saturday, October 16, 2010 08:15:00
Listen to MP3 of this story ( minutes)
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ELIZABETH JACKSON: Victoria and New South Wales are rugging up and battening down for a weekend of wild weather.
Rain eased overnight in southern New South Wales and north-east Victoria but flood alerts are still in place in some areas.
Paula Kruger reports.
PAULA KRUGER: Late last night in southern New South Wales an evacuation was ordered for properties around Mannus Dam, near Tumbarumba, after the dam wall started crumbling.
But the threat it posed eased after local authorities emptied the dam with a controlled release of water downstream.
SES Controller James McTavish said at the time that there appeared to be no injuries and that he hoped there was minimal damage.
JAMES MCTAVISH: We're confident that we have seen certainly the worst of the weather. It's just a case of how much damage we get from the wind which is currently passing through and where the flood water goes over the next few hours into the next few days
PAULA KRUGER: While some roads are still cut off and locals keep an eye on swollen rivers, attention is turning to the wild winds across New South Wales.
Jake Phillips is the duty forecaster at the state's weather bureau.
JAKE PHILLIPS: The threat there is for damaging wind gusts. Now, when we get wind gusts in excess of 90 kilometres an hour we categorise those as damaging and we have actually seen in the last few hours in several locations winds exceeding that threshold, namely at Murrurundi in the north and also coming very close at Armidale. And we've also just exceed that threshold in parts of the Central Tablelands as well.
PAULA KRUGER: Victoria meanwhile is in the grip of a cold snap.
A cold front has brought heavy rain, strong winds and snow.
Richard Carlyon is from Victoria's weather bureau.
RICHARD CARLYON: We've had reports from Mount Dandenong, possible snow around the Kinglake Ranges, and also around Ballarat there's likely to be some snow flurries.
PAULA KRUGER: Rains have eased, reducing the threat of floods, but Victoria's State Emergency Service was kept busy last night with calls from people affected by wild weather.
SES spokeswoman Natasha Duckett says greater Melbourne and Victoria's north east were worst hit.
NATASHA DUCKETT: Most of those jobs have been in relation to building damage and trees across roads, some flooding in properties.
PAULA KRUGER: Heavy rain in Victoria's south west caused a land-slip on the rugged Great Ocean Road.
The popular tourist route was closed to traffic for several hours between Wye River and Lorne.
And today's Caulfield Cup meeting is expected to be one of the wettest in years.
Caulfield race course track manager, Jason Kerr, says it's been more than a decade since the track was rated heavy.
JASON KERR: '92 with Mannerism so since then we've all sort of been on top of the ground. So I think certainly we'll back into the mud runners. But certainly 18 years since we've had a wet one so some would say we're probably overdue.
PAULA KRUGER: The cold snap does have its benefits, though.
The Victorian Plague Locust Commission says the wet and cool weather across the state this weekend will slow down locust activity and hatchings.
Although ultimately the overall threat of the locust plague won't be diminished.
ELIZABETH JACKSON: Paula Kruger.
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