{"id":231923,"date":"2025-10-22T07:41:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T07:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/231923\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T07:41:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T07:41:22","slug":"trees-downed-geelong-cup-postponed-as-severe-weather-wreaks-havoc-across-victoria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/231923\/","title":{"rendered":"Trees downed, Geelong Cup postponed as severe weather wreaks havoc across Victoria"},"content":{"rendered":"

A tram and car have been hit by a falling tree in Melbourne and dangerous winds have forced Geelong Cup organisers to call off racing for the day<\/a> as an intense low pressure system sweeps across Victoria.<\/p>\n

A severe weather warning has been issued for the vast majority of Victoria as a deep low pressure system in Bass Strait moves rapidly eastwards, bringing destructive winds throughout Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has also warned of the possibility of thunderstorms.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

No one was injured despite the close call for the drivers and passengers of a tram and car in Malvern. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)<\/p>\n

Winds gusts reached more than 90 kph in Malvern in Melbourne’s east, causing a large tree to fall across a busy road and collide with a tram and car.<\/p>\n

A motorist named Michelle said she was just driving past the tram when she heard a loud bang at the rear of her vehicle.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Winds were gusting to more than 90kph in Melbourne when the tree came down. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

She said a branch pierced the back window of her car where her young daughter was sitting.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t even see the tree,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It was just [there] all of a sudden, out of nowhere.”<\/p>\n

She said her daughter was in shock.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Michelle says her daughter was sitting in the back seat when the branch pierced the back window. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)<\/p>\n

In Frankston, the police chopper was observed pulling someone from the water.<\/p>\n

Victoria Police is yet to comment on the rescue.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The police chopper performed a rescue from Port Phillip at Frankston. (Supplied: Hans Vanderstadt)<\/p>\n

In Melbourne’s east, a large tree was ripped from the ground in Mitcham, falling across a fence and damaging a neighbouring home.<\/p>\n

The State Emergency Service (SES) had received more nearly 900 calls for assistance at 6pm.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

A tree has fallen on a house in Mitcham. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

SES Central Duty Officer Geb Abbott said most of the calls were for trees that had fallen across roads and properties.<\/p>\n

She said most the damage earlier in the day was in the south-west of the state and the Grampians before the focus shifted to Melbourne later in the day.<\/p>\n

“The winds that we’ve been experiencing today of over 90 or 100 kilometres an hour are certainly enough to take down branches, fell a tree,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The SES says it’s received hundreds of calls for fallen trees and building damage. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Races called off amid strong gusts<\/p>\n

Geelong Cup organisers were also forced to call off the biggest day on the city’s racing calendar as gusts at a racecourse hit 87 kph.<\/p>\n

Marquees were evacuated after the third race of the day at around 2pm, with the decision to postpone remaining races until Thursday afternoon made about an hour later.<\/p>\n

Geelong Racing Club CEO Luke Rayner said the suspension of racing was disappointing.<\/p>\n

“The jockeys and the stewards are the ones that control the outcome of the racing and whether it’s deemed safe or it’s okay to ride,” Mr Rayner told ABC Radio Melbourne.<\/p>\n

“That was a constant discussion after each and every race.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Dangerous winds sent hats and hair flying at the Geelong Racecourse on Wednesday afternoon. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Mr Rayner said information came through that the winds were strengthening and would exceed the 80kph safety limit for the marquees and other temporary infrastructure.<\/p>\n

“We put all of our mitigation plans in place and relocation plans in place,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We had a direct line in my office where we were able to obtain 30-minute updates and we knew when those winds were potentially going to arrive, which gave us a full hour to relocate customers, even though it was quite efficient and took about 20 minutes.”<\/p>\n

He said the six races which could not be run, including the Derby Classic and the Geelong Cup, would go ahead on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Racing Victoria CEO Aaron Morrison said the team had done a “fantastic job” working with emergency services and police.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The decision to cancel the Geelong Cup was made around 3pm. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

A wind gust of 120 kilometres per hour was recorded at Mount Gellibrand in Victoria’s south-west about 2:58pm, and 110kph at nearby Mount William.<\/p>\n

Further south, the city of Warrnambool recorded a gust of 94kph and 91kph at nearby Port Fairy and at Portland.<\/p>\n

There were similar gusts at Warracknabeal and Stawell in the state’s west, and Swan Hill in the north-west, and gusts just slightly lower in the north of the state.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The severe weather provoked a dust storm in Piangil, near Swan Hill in the state’s north west. (ABC Rural: Warwick Long)<\/p>\n

In the alps, in Victoria’s north-east, Mount Hotham was hit by a 111kph gust.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, gusts have exceeded 90kph at Aireys Inlet and Avalon.<\/p>\n

In Melbourne, winds are gusting around 89kph at Laverton in the city’s west, and 85kph at Essendon and 80kph near the CBD.<\/p>\n

Power cut as commuters, drivers met with chaos<\/p>\n

More than 13,500 properties were without power at 5pm \u2014 mostly in the western half of the state, Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula.<\/p>\n

Energy providers Powercor and Ausnet said they doubled their crews for today’s weather and most properties would be reconnected this evening.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The State Emergency Service has received hundreds of calls for help as damaging winds move across Victoria. (ABC News: Matt Neal)<\/p>\n

Daniel Hayes from the BOM said the state had not seen huge amounts of rain as the low pressure system, which was south of Melbourne at about 3:30pm, passed through.<\/p>\n

“We are going to have these quite strong winds with us for quite some time with us yet through the day,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s probably not until later this evening that we start to see things easing off significantly.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Trees have fallen across a number of roads across Victoria. (Supplied: SES Monash Unit)<\/p>\n

He said Melbourne Airport recorded gusts up around 80 to 90kph.<\/p>\n

“There is the potential that we will still see those push up into that damaging range, in that 90 to 100 kilometre an hour range,” he said.<\/p>\n

Destructive winds on the west coast had eased to around the 120kph range, he said.<\/p>\n

“The system will move through though and we will see a more settled day tomorrow,” he said.<\/p>\n

V\/Line confirmed an Echuca to Southern Cross train service would terminate at Bendigo after storm debris on the tracks in Bendigo’s north caused delays.<\/p>\n

Reports on social media show large tree branches covering train tracks at Goornong, 30 kilometres north-west of Bendigo.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Winds reached about 80kph in Mornington. (Supplied: Liane Willoughby)<\/p>\n

In Geelong, driver Rohan said he was forced to hit the brakes when a large tree fell across the road.<\/p>\n

“It blocked the left lane and maybe the middle lane,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Luckily, the lights changed from red to green so we’d just taken off and before we knew it the tree came down.<\/p>\n

“The branches hit a few cars in front of me so I feel sorry for those guys.”<\/p>\n

East of Geelong, caller Andrew from Queenscliff said the old historic wind gauge at the nearby Point Lonsdale Lighthouse was recording 120kph gusts at the entrance to Port Phillip.<\/p>\n

“Very dangerous waters, you wouldn’t want to be out there today,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A tram and car have been hit by a falling tree in Melbourne and dangerous winds have forced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,139639,6169,139607,139637,15157,85,17711,80722,139638,139640,139636,10650],"class_list":["post-231923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-building-damage","tag-forecast","tag-geelong-cup","tag-gusts","tag-rain","tag-sports","tag-storm","tag-trams","tag-trees-down","tag-victoria-weather","tag-weather-warning","tag-wind"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}