Large swathes of South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia were battered by wild winds overnight on Tuesday, leveling trees and leaving homes without power, with no reprieve expected until Sunday.
Potentially destructive winds have been forecast for much of southern Australia as a series of cold fronts moves across the country.
Severe weather warnings are current for parts of WA, SA, NSW and Victoria, as several locations gear up for a trifecta of damaging winds, heavy rainfall and flooding.
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In NSW the BOM is warning of damaging winds and heavy rainfall across the Illawarra, South Coast, Southern Tablelands, South West Slopes, Snowy Mountains and Australian Capital Territory forecast districts.
Blizzard conditions are possible in Alpine areas above 1900m, and the BOM is also warning of damaging wind gusts up to 90km/h in the state’s west.
The Victorian SES received 216 calls for assistance in the 24 hours to 6am Wednesday, mainly over fallen trees.
The busiest volunteer units were Emerald (24 calls), Pakenham (19) and Upper Yarra (15), with about 17,000 households in the Emerald and Pakenham areas without power.
VIC SES chief officer of operations Tim Wiebusch told Sunrise only a small percentage of trees had fallen onto structures.
“The problem has been trees across the road, and so I can’t emphasize enough this morning, be cautious, be alert to conditions when driving to work,” he said.
Watch and act warnings have been declared for The Great Dividing range, with residents in the area urged to prepare to take shelter.
However, the severe weather warning for Central Highlands and Mount Dandenong has now been cancelled.
Gusts in the Grampians reached almost 110km/h overnight, with Melbourne’s northern suburbs expected to be hit with wild winds later today.
Damaging winds averaging 65km/h with peak gusts up to 110km/h are occurring over elevated areas of Victoria’s eastern ranges, which are expected to ease on Wednesday afternoon.
However destructive gusts are expected to re-develop in the southwest of Victoria during Wednesday evening, with wind speeds averaging 50-60km/h expected and peak gusts of 90km/h.
WA SES was called to 345 jobs in the past 24 hours to 6:30am Wednesday morning, 300 of those in the metro area.
Damage has occurred from Butler in the north of Perth to Mandurah on the southwest coast.
Most calls were related to fallen trees on roofs, damaged power lines, with some reports of patios and verandahs being ripped from homes.
There has also been one report of a roof that has collapsed in Joondalup.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, a series of vigorous cold fronts will continue to cross the south of WA through to early Thursday.
Gusty showers and thunderstorms are likely along these fronts, as well as in the westerly flow in their wake.
Those in the Goldfields-Midlands, Midwest-Gascoyne, Perth Metropolitan, South West, Lower South West, Great Southern have been warned to take action.
South Australia’s SES received 51 call outs in the 24 hours up until Tuesday night, with another 10 received on Wednesday morning.
Most were pertaining to fallen trees, however none have created any significant damages to property.
SA SES told 7NEWS.com.au the state was not hit as hard as it was initially forecast.
SA Minister for Human Services Nat Cook has announced a code Blue has been introduced from Wednesday across the metro Adelaide due to the weather, meaning homelessness services will visit known rough sleeper locations to make people are aware of available support.
“Code Blue continues in regional centers until 9 August in the Riverland, Limestone Coast, Victor Harbor, Kangaroo Island, Port Lincoln, Clare, and Kadina,” she wrote on Twitter.
Strong to damaging northwesterly winds averaging 50-65 kilometers per hour with peak gusts of around 90km/h, are still possible across parts of the warning area during Wednesday afternoon and early evening.
The risk of severe winds will ease Wednesday evening, but conditions will remain comfortable near some coastal areas throughout the night.
Conditions are expected to ease across southern Australia this Sunday.
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