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“It was incredible, something like a mini-tornado in a south-westerly direction. The fact that no one was injured is a minor miracle. There were four people in a car and a brick wall fell on them. They got out and walked away,” said Mr. Rees, who was stationed in a State Emergency Service control van.
Mr. Terry Ryan, a senior forecaster with the weather bureau, said “mini-tornado” had become a term used to describe very strong winds. But he said tornadoes rarely occurred in Australia.
Flash flooding outside of Spencer Street Station.Credit:The Age Archives
About 150 homes were damaged when the story lashed the suburbs. Strong winds tore roofs off homes, uprooted trees and blew out windows.
The worst hit areas were Middle Park, South Melbourne, Albert Park, St Kilda, Malvern, Moorabbin and East Bentleigh. The storm dumped 22 millimeters of rain in the city in two hours.
An SEC spokesman said last night that about 100,000 homes across Melbourne and in Portland and Bendigo were blacked out. More than 2000 properties were expected to remain without power this morning.
Last night, more than 200 SES volunteers were repairing homes, placing tarpaulins over roofs and clearing trees and branches from roads.
The Moorabbin industrial area was devastated.Credit:The Age Archives
Rush-hour trains’ services were disrupted because of a signals failure that shut down the city loop for almost an hour from about 5pm.
The ABC’s ‘7:30 Report’ went off the air last night after power failure at the Elsternwick studio. A standby program was screened.
The windows in some buildings were blown out by the wind.Credit:The Age Archives
Mr. Ryan said the bureau has issued a severe-weather warning about 30 minutes before the storm hit. The temperature dropped about eight degrees after the storm.
The SES regional officer, Mr. Stephen Warren, said last night there had been at least 200 calls for help. Most calls were for roof damage and trees blocking roads. More than 20 units were operating across Melbourne repairing homes.
Blackouts caused long traffic delays as motorists battled flash flooding on roads and heavy rains. Police were forced to direct traffic at many inner-city intersections as traffic lights went out.
Police said about 40 factories in Moorabbin East were seriously damaged, with one man injured after being hit by a sheet of glass. Power was last night cut to the industrial estate.
A valiant attempt to avoid wet feet, Flinders Street.Credit:The Age Archives
Mr. Rees said the SEC had not been able to cut total power to the area because Bignell Road, in the heart of the devastated area, carried 66,000-volt power lines, which formed part of the Melbourne electricity grid.
In Walter Street, the Caprice textile factory was badly damaged. Iron roofing sheets, clinging to SEC poles, flapped in the wind. A car was squashed and buried by fallen bricks.
Mr. Rees said hundreds of homes in East Bentleigh were damaged.
One of the hardest hit areas was Middle Park where residents last night were counting to cost of the storm. There was a trail of destruction with homes badly damaged in Wright, Carter and Miles streets. Corrugated iron from roofs, trees and glass littered the area. Trams were brought to a standstill. The Lakeside flats in Canterbury Road were badly damaged after strong winds blow out dozens of windows.
Mr. Hugh Fisher, 80, of Wright Street, was sitting in the kitchen when the storm hit. “It was frightening. There was lightning and the power went off. There was plenty of rain and the wind was pretty fierce”.