According to reports from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and 9News on the 3rd, Victoria, Australia, suffered a double impact of storms and extreme high temperatures overnight, causing power outages for tens of thousands of households and businesses, and a house fire in the Taylors Lake area northwest of Melbourne due to lightning strikes.
According to reports, strong winds of 109 kilometers per hour were measured at Cape Wilson near Geelong, Victoria, and multiple storm systems dumped 25 mm of heavy rain on the Shelford area in just half an hour. In southern Melbourne, the Frankston area suffered strong winds and heavy rain, while Tutgaruk on the Mornington Peninsula was hit by rare large hail.
Chris Hardman, chief fire officer of the Victorian Forest Fire Authority, said that as of 3 pm on the 2nd, more than 8,000 dry lightning strikes had been recorded across the state. The Victorian Fire and Rescue Service revealed that at around 12:45 a.m. local time on the 2nd, lightning struck a house in Taylors Lake, northwest of Melbourne, causing a fire. The fire quickly spread to the roof of the house in the Mirror Court block and caused a partial collapse. There were two people in the house at the time, and fortunately they escaped safely, but the house was severely damaged.
Due to the severe weather, about 14,000 properties had not yet restored power in the early morning of the 3rd.
At the same time, the extreme heat wave is still continuing, and the temperature in some parts of Victoria continues to rise. It is expected that the maximum temperature in the northwestern and western Marley and Wimmera areas of Victoria, as well as several towns in the north, will reach 40 degrees Celsius on the 4th, and the temperature in most other areas will also be above 30 degrees Celsius, further increasing the risk of fire.
