A four-year-old boy killed by a tree in Victoria's wild storm on Thursday had only been outside for a few minutes when he was fatally struck, his aunt says.
Key points:
- Wind gusts reached as high as 158kph at Wilsons Promontory
- More than 120,000 homes lost power across the state
- The Health Department has issued guidelines about coronavirus restriction exemptions for those affected by the storm
Ayan Kapoor was walking with his father and younger sister near their home at Blackburn South, in Melbourne's east, when he was suddenly hit.
He was one of three people killed by falling trees in separate incidents during the wild windstorm.
Police said the boy was taken to hospital, where he later died.
The boy's aunt said the family had not been outside for very long when the tragedy happened.
"His father was just trying to get him out, but he was not breathing at all," she told Channel Nine.
"He's such a jolly boy, he's calling me everyday.
"His Dad is in shock. He keeps [saying] 'it's all my mistake', he's just crying."
Melbourne's coronavirus lockdown meant she had not been able to see her nephew since earlier in the year, she said.
"We haven't seen each other in more than three or four months … when stage 4 [restrictions] finished we were planning to see him."
Further east, a 59-year-old Tecoma man died when a tree fell on his car in Belgrave.
The man was driving out of a shopping centre carpark when a tree fell and crushed the car shortly after 6:00pm.
A 36-year-old woman from Parkdale became the third fatality after a tree fell on a car in Fernshaw, north-east of Melbourne.
Police said the car was travelling down the Maroondah Highway when it was hit by a falling tree at about 6:50pm.
The woman was sitting in the front passenger seat and died at the scene.
The driver, a 24-year-old Flinders man, was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Premier Daniel Andrews expressed "sincere condolences and best wishes to each of those families".
"This will be just a terrible time for them and our hearts are with you," Mr Andrews said.
He acknowledged the work of the State Emergency Service (SES) for its response to an extraordinary volume of almost 3,000 calls overnight.
SES receives 2,000 calls in 15 minutes
The deaths came during a night of intense storms that moved across Victoria from the south-west, over Melbourne and into eastern Victoria from late Thursday afternoon into the evening.
Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Dean Narromore said winds of 158 kilometres per hour — equivalent to a category 2 cyclone — were recorded at Wilsons Promontory, while gusts of 124kph were recorded at Mount Gellibrand, east of Colac.
The strongest winds in the Melbourne area were off St Kilda, where gusts of 115kph were recorded.
SES chief officer Tim Wiebusch said the service had received more than 2,700 calls for assistance, almost 2,000 of which were received in a 15-minute period around 6:00pm.
The areas hardest hit included Colac, Torquay, Melbourne's east including Belgrave, Mooroolbark, Croydon and Montrose, as well as Phillip Island and Warragul.
Mr Wiebusch said more than 300 buildings were "severely damaged" across the state and more than 120,000 homes lost power.
Almost 40,000 homes remained without power on Friday afternoon.
AusNet Services said 25,322 of its customers still had no power, with the worst-affected areas being Mount Evelyn, Lilydale, Ferntree Gully and Ringwood.
Spokesperson Helina Lilley said hundreds of people would still be without power overnight.
United Energy spokesperson Jordan Oliver told ABC Radio Melbourne that 1,400 customers were without power.
"There will be some that unfortunately, probably won't get back on until tomorrow morning. So that's obviously really hard for them," he said.
Pair rushed to neighbour's house after it was crushed by trees
Joshua O'Connell and Michael Hendy of Belgrave described their efforts to help their neighbour, an 84-year-old woman, after she was trapped in the wreckage of her home.
"It was pretty crazy. Out of nowhere the wind just picked up … It sounded almost like explosions to be honest. And before we knew it there were just trees down everywhere," Mr O'Connell said.
"We've rushed out and we've seen trees come down on our neighbour's house. We rushed straight out to her aid."
Mr O'Connell said he could not get into the locked property, but he could hear her inside. He broke a kitchen window and jumped through, where he found her trapped but unharmed, with a fallen beam not far from her head.
"You can't see one end of the house to the other. The roof's on the floor. There are two rooms that are just completely crushed," he said.
He and Mr Hendy stayed with her in the rubble for two hours, before a team about 20 SES members and firefighters were able to get her to safety.
"It was really scary, we wanted to figure out a way to get her out, but we couldn't do that without compromising the structure of the building. So as sacred as we were, we just had to sit there and wait," Mr O'Connell said.
The pair said they were relieved to be able to help her, and are now looking after her cat.
Health Department issues new advice for storm-affected residents
Victorians remain subject to stay-at-home orders, and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has released detailed guidance on what they are allowed to do if they or their family and friends have been affected by the storms:
- You can leave home home to buy tools to fix storm damage, which can be beyond the 5km radius from your home if necessary
- You can do emergency repairs for family and friends if they cannot do it themselves
- You can leave your home if you and your family are at risk
While not recommended, people can stay with family and friends if their homes are uninhabitable.
However, the DHHS would prefer people to stay in other accommodation such as hotels or caravan parks.
Yarra Valley Water and South East Water have told residents in 99 suburbs to boil their tap water after the storm damaged infrastructure, leading to undisinfected water from Silvan Reservoir entering the water supply system.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiamh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTA4LTI4L3ZpY3RvcmlhLXdlYXRoZXItYm95LWtpbGxlZC1ieS10cmVlLWR1cmluZy1tZWxib3VybmUtc3Rvcm0vMTI2MDQ4MDTSASdodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTI2MDQ4MDQ?oc=5
2020-08-28 09:45:00Z
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