Nearly 20,000 people were left without power in southern Australia on Wednesday as fierce winds uprooted trees and downed power lines. AusNet, the region’s electricity network operator, reported 72 separate outages, with wind gusts reaching 113 kilometers (70 miles) per hour. Approximately 19,300 customers were affected by the outages.
The Victoria State Emergency Service issued a “severe weather” warning for Wednesday and Thursday, urging residents to avoid trees and fallen power lines. The Bureau of Meteorology recorded wind gusts exceeding 100 kilometers (62 miles) per hour in several areas east of Melbourne, with conditions expected to gradually improve overnight.
