Strong winds are forecast to hit southern states again later this week as clean-up crews take advantage of a short reprieve after days of wild weather that left one woman dead and thousands without power.
Calmer conditions are predicted for Tuesday but the Bureau of Meteorology has warned strong winds will return later in the week.
“Winds will be much lighter, showers will contract mostly away from land areas and we will see cooler temperatures,” Meteorologist Helen Reed said on Tuesday morning
“The rest of the week will see windy conditions return for some areas, but will not be as severe as we’ve seen recently.”
Tasmanians are warned to remain alert despite the change in weather, with more than 20 warnings still active, including an emergency flood warning for the Derwent River.
SES Tasmania executive director, Mick Lowe said crews and police had been door knocking in the area over the past few days and two evacuation centres remain open for displaced residents.
“Properties in the region of the Derwent River, Meadowbank to Macquarie Plains and Styx River, Bushy Park to Macquarie Plains and surrounds continue to face a significant risk of flooding and it is likely roads and properties will become inundated by floodwaters and become inaccessible,” he said.
The wind and rain, which started on Sunday night, resulted in the death of a 63-year-old woman killed by a tree coming down at Moama, on the NSW-Victoria border.
NSW police will prepare a report for the coroner on the woman’s death after a tree landed on a cabin she was staying in at holiday park at Merool on the Murray.
A man, also aged 63, was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
More than 120,000 Victorians were without power and 660 homes damaged on Monday following a night of pulsing winds and abnormally high tides.
A crew of 29 SES volunteers from NSW landed in Melbourne on Tuesday morning to help with the clean-up.
The team of chainsaw and heights specialists will work directly with Victorian SES volunteers in and around Melbourne.
In NSW, a bushfire near Wollongong closed the M1 Princes Highway while a second at Erskine Park in western Sydney closed two lanes on the M4 for several hours on Monday afternoon.
Another blaze was burning in Tomago north of Newcastle, with residents told to prepare their homes, before it was downgraded to watch and act.
A woman in her 50s suffered multiple injuries after being hit by a falling tree in Sydney’s west.
Strong winds of up to 85km/h caused the cancellation of 90 flights to and from Sydney Airport and left just one of its three runways open.
The SES confirmed a home in Melbourne’s Dandenong Ranges was destroyed along with a property in Corio in Geelong’s north due to wind damage.
