Fallen tree crushes family vehicle, woman dies at scene

A woman is dead and two others – including a young child – remain fighting for life after wild weather caused a tree to come down on top of a car.

A four-year-old was flown to hospital in a critical condition.

Emergency crews desperately worked to free a man and two children, aged four and five, trapped in the same vehicle, with two of those now in critical conditions in hospital.

Read the story from The West Australian -“Fallen tree crushes family vehicle, woman dies at scene.”

Parts of Victoria hit with a month's worth of rain in a day as cyclone menaces north

Seventeen people have been rescued by helicopter and 100 people are stranded in their cars on a flooded Hume Highway in northeast Victoria.

A pedestrian walks along a flooded street
in the south of Melbourne on Thursday.

With more than a month’s worth of rain already fallen across parts of northeast Victoria as wild weather rages across the state, authorities say some people have not heeded warnings about driving into floodwaters.

“We’ve seen people that have had to be rescued from the roofs of their cars, 17 people in total, and 100 people have been stranded just to the south of Wangaratta,” Victoria State Emergency Service chief officer Tim Wiebusch told reporters.

Read the story from The Guardian by Australian Associated Press - “Parts of Victoria hit with a month's worth of rain in a day as cyclone menaces north.”

‘Thundersnow', dust storms and gale force winds: What is going on with Australia's weather?

Every Australian state and territory has been impacted by wild weather over the past few days.

The hills are white today in Falls Creek despite
 the official ski season ending on October 7.

In South Australia 40,000 properties were left without power and several homes were damaged as wind gusts of over 100 kilometres per hour hit on Wednesday night.

Victoria also saw severe thunderstorms with the State Emergency Service reporting it had received over 750 calls for assistance by Tuesday night.

Read the ABC News story by Kate Doyle - “‘Thundersnow', dust storms and gale force winds: What is going on with Australia's weather?”

Melbourne weather: Heatwave continues as wild winds cause flight delays

If you woke up warm and wondering what season we're in, you weren't alone.

A dust storm covered the city this morning.
In some parts it was 30 degrees at 5am.

Thursday morning brought a confusing array of wild weather to the city including wild winds, a dust storm causing flight delays and temperatures as high as 30 degrees at 5am.

The dust storm was reported across Deer Park, Manor Lakes and Laverton and was moving into Footscray on Thursday morning. The State Emergency Service said a dust storm hit Ballarat and Ararat overnight.

Melbourne Airport is reporting 30-minute delays on flights - mainly arrivals - due to the dust storm and strong winds.

Read the story by Anna Prytz from The Age - “Melbourne weather: Heatwave continues as wild winds cause flight delays.”

Images capture orange dust storm that swallowed an Australian town

A striking cloud of thick red dust has covered the small town of Charleville in rural Queensland after wild weather swept through the state.

The dust storm sweeps towards Charleville, Queensland.

The dust phenomenon occurred on Tuesday when high winds swept through the area kicking up dust that had settled after a spell of dry weather.

While dust storms are not uncommon in the area, locals said it was unusual for the dust cover to be so thick and brightly coloured.

Heavy rain and damaging winds left other parts of northern and inland Queensland with a large cleanup operation after trees were uprooted and roofs ripped off during the storm’s peak.

Read Amy McNeilage’s story in The Guardian - “Images capture orange dust storm that swallowed an Australian town.”

Flash floods and strong winds forecast as Perth prepares for season's roughest storm

Wild weather is set to lash Perth this weekend as three consecutive fronts hit the south-west, bringing flash flooding and damaging 125km/h wind gusts.

Wild weather is forecast for Perth this weekend
as three consecutive fronts hit the south-west. 

The first front will hit south-west coastal regions about 6pm on Friday, bringing winds in excess of 100km/h before moving to the south metropolitan about 11pm.

A weaker front is expected to pass through on Saturday with conditions easing before the season’s roughest storm hits on Sunday night into early Monday.

The Bureau of Meteorology warns Sunday’s front will bring waves off the capes up to 8m high, with 6m-7m surf at Perth beaches.

Read Naaman Zhou’s story on The Guardian - “Flash floods and strong winds forecast as Perth prepares for season's roughest storm.”