Geez, what a ride!

[canetoad]

I posted the other day about extreme weather we were having in SE Australia. What a day it ended up being; half the state was on fire, the other half hit by thunderstoms and dry lightening strikes that left a trail of devastation.

Like this.... two transmission towers blown over


The local power station was affected by falling trees and hit by lightening strikes and went offline. Half a million households without power. All across the state trees were down, one farmer was killed and an insane amount of damage was caused by these small but very violent line storms.

My town was on the edge and didn't suffer much damage, however power was out for 24 hrs.

South Gippsland residents start clean-up after 'terrifying' thunderstorm savages Victorian towns

On Tuesday evening, people in South Gippsland expected a regular thunderstorm as a heavy and dark cloud blanketed the region, but the reality was much more horrific.

Hail bucketed the region and strong winds savaged townships and bushland, destroying houses and tearing down trees.

The storm killed a 50-year-old dairy farmer in Darlimurla who was riding a quad bike while moving cattle when he and several cows were hit about 6pm.

In a neighbouring town, Mirboo North, locals united to help clear debris and provide support as tens of houses had their roofs torn off.
More... https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-15/south-gippsland-storm-rain-weather-mirboo-houses-destroyed/103464648

We lost not only power and internet, but mobile phone services were out too. I hope this isn't a precursor of regular weather conditions to come.