If you thought your morning commute was a little bit wilder than usual this morning, you’re not bloody wrong. Melbourne copped a battering from high winds that brought down trees, disrupted public transport, and dragged a spectacular-lookin’ dust storm across the CBD just as morning peak hour hit.
Winds in excess of 100km/h smacked Victoria upside the head this morning, with the strongest gusts battering Melbourne from early morning until around 10am.
The storm front whipped up wind gusts that peaked at 109km/h in St Kilda, and brought with it a gnarly dust cloud captured by various punters on social media.
https://twitter.com/jessiethelamb/status/963529009924489216
Big wall of dust coming in to the city #janesweather #melbweather pic.twitter.com/n6tFyZYair
— Jane Bunn (@JaneBunn) February 13, 2018
Man o man – howling and dust. pic.twitter.com/oEgUl05OTG
— Andrew B. Watkins (@windjunky) February 13, 2018
Windy Whitten Oval. What’s new? 🌬🌬 #RealStrength pic.twitter.com/xBEtzsA4Iy
— Western Bulldogs (@westernbulldogs) February 13, 2018
@3AW693 massive dust storm just passed through the city pic.twitter.com/thLCzGmu6H
— Theodora (@theodora_hatzis) February 13, 2018
Commuters on the South Morang and Hustbridge lines felt the full brunt of the winds, which brought a tree branch down on top of a train near Jolimont station, forcing passengers to disembark on the tracks and causing massive delays further up the line.
A tree branch has landed on a train roof between #Jolimont and #Flinders st, causing major delays on the South Morang and Hurstbridge lines.@abcnews #melbweather pic.twitter.com/JTdkvRrIrR
— ABC Melbourne (@abcmelbourne) February 13, 2018
Strong winds have brought down a branch on this train @ Jolimont station. These commuters won’t be getting to work any time soon @abcnews pic.twitter.com/C7vzRHXUu5
— Emily Sakzewski (@EmilySakzewski) February 13, 2018
@abcmelbourne pic.twitter.com/9Iqd8Mmcgh
— SquareLemonPR (@clarecremin) February 13, 2018
Scene at Clifton Hill tram stop as commuters left without trains after high winds cause free to fall across tracks on Hurstbridge line. pic.twitter.com/7XzXSkPRgs
— Ewin Hannan (@EwinHannan) February 13, 2018
Trees have also been brought down in numerous areas across the city, including this shot take in the inner-city suburb of Richmond.
https://twitter.com/sfana90/status/963551167522287616
The winds also managed to knock a load off a truck crossing the West Gate Bridge earlier this morning, causing minor delays to traffic.
WEST GATE BRIDGE – Two left lanes remain closed outbound, after a truck lost a cable reel. VicRoads is on site awaiting crews to remove the reel. #victraffic pic.twitter.com/BfzScbxGkC
— VicTraffic (@VicTraffic) February 13, 2018
And spare a bloody thought for the public art in Federation Square this morning, which is copping an absolute pizzling.
https://twitter.com/Br_Tr/status/963532438621241344
The winds have caused around 40,000 homes to lost power, with services slowly being restored throughout the morning as the Victorian SES works through a log of 400-odd calls for assistance made since midnight last night.
The predicted destructive winds are making their way through Melbourne at the moment. Vic SES have already had close to 400 calls for assistance since midnight as the wind takes trees and powerlines down and also blocking roads. pic.twitter.com/9H7IS65oQe
— VICSES News (@vicsesnews) February 13, 2018
So there you bloody have it, mates. It is windy as heck today in good ole’ Melbourne.
The Bureau of Meteorology forecast calls for winds to ease later this afternoon as temperatures pick back up into the low 20s.
