Man dead and thousands without power as storm lashes Victoria
Across Victoria, houses were cut in half, more than 200,000 people have been left without electricity and a man has died after a powerful storm ripped through the state overnight.
Tracey Kensley lives in Melbourne’s outer east and spoke about her heartbreak after a tree snapped and crushed a bedroom and living room in her home.
“It’s very numbing, it’s very hard to explain, it’s a numbing feeling once you get through the tears,” she told A Current Affair.
The house has been in Ms Kensley’s family for decades and is a place her and her sister hold special memories of, from growing up.
“This was our family home growing up, so it’s heartbreaking, absolutely heartbreaking, but everyone’s safe,” she said.
Zang Haukip lives with his brother, sister, nephew and two nieces in Mooroolbark.
They woke up to the family car trapped under a tree and rubble on the kids’ toys after their ceiling collapsed.
“The roof falling down and it was very scary and the kids were crying,” he said.
Robert Lee’s family home was hit just before midnight.
“When we got out of bed and saw the tree through our dining room, and it looked pretty nasty, and the first thought was getting to our son at the other end of the house,” he said.
In Victoria’s Gippsland region, a creek bank broke causing flood waters to rush through streets in town, prompting authorities to issue an urgent evacuation warning for the area of Traralgon.
Tragically in the hours after the evacuation warning was issued, a man was located -deceased in flood waters at Woodside.
A rescue team has recovered the deceased man and the circumstances surrounding his death are being investigated.
Local Traralgon resident Anne-Marie’s backyard is unrecognisable.
Her outdoor pool is completely submerged in flood water.
“It’s devastating but we’ll get through it, somehow, so we always do, so but I’d certainly rather floods than the fires that have come through,” she said.
