For grey nomads out on the roads in Victoria today, the message from road safety experts is a very blunt: ‘Be exceptionally careful out there!’
Wind so of up to 117km/h are sweeping across the state, felling trees and making for treacherous driving conditions. As all travellers used to towing a caravan or driving a high-sided motorhome will know, strong gusts can turn what should be a pleasant journey into a nerve-jangling white knuckle ride.
The dangers were graphically illustrated when a truck was blown over on the Hume Freeway this morning causing traffic chaos.
A caller to 3AW said she had just come off the Craigieburn East bypass when she was behind a truck swaying in the wind.
“I went to overtake it and something said to me just back off,” Simone told Neil Mitchell. “Within two seconds of me backing off and not overtaking it, it literally flipped on its side.”
Of course, caravans are not immune from similar problems. Last year, a caravan was blown over on a bridge in Tasmania in high winds, and in 2015 a van met a similar fate on the Wide Bay Highway in Queensland.
A severe weather warning has been issued for much of central Victoria as a low pressure system moves to the south of the state, with a westerly flow over southern parts.
Areas that may be impacted by strong winds include Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, Warrnambool, Portland, Wonthaggi, Mt Buller and Falls Creek
The Bureau of Meteorology is warning winds averaging 50km/h will hit Melbourne today with some gusts peaking at 100km/h. Mt William in the Grampians has already recorded 117km/h winds.
Winds are expected to ease over inland parts of the western and central districts during the afternoon, but the southern coasts and eastern ranges may be impacted by damaging winds during the evening.
