Storms accompanied by powerful winds killed one person and left hundreds of thousands of homes without electricity in eastern Australia, authorities announced on Wednesday February 14.
Severe weather lashed large swaths of Victoria state on Tuesday, dumping torrents of rain and triggering gusts of more than 150 km/h, according to emergency services.
A 50-year-old rancher was killed in the storm, apparently struck by flying debris while on a tractor east of Melbourne, authorities said at a news conference.
The winds also spread bushfires in the Grampians region west of Melbourne, burning an unknown number of homes in a small town.
“Multiple fires” caused by lightning
At the height of the bad weather, 530,000 homes and businesses were without power, the Australian Energy Market Operator said.
Some 285,000 people were still affected as of Wednesday morning.
The winds tore off roofs, uprooted trees and damaged electricity pylons, according to media reports and images shared on social media.
Falling transmission pylons have led to the shutdown of Victoria's largest electricity generator, the Loy Yang A coal-fired power station, which is now reconnected to the grid, Victoria's energy authority said. State in a press release.
“This is one of the most significant outages in the history of the state
,” said Lily D'Ambrosio, Minister of Energy for the State of Victoria.
Additionally, lightning sparked
“multiple fires”
in the area, according to a state emergency management official.
Authorities said they were now working to restore power and assess the extent of the damage caused by the fires, with bushfire and weather alerts having been lifted.