Tasmania is bracing for a weekend of continuing severe weather, with meteorologists warning that the worst is yet to come.
Luke Johnston from the Bureau of Meteorology says strong winds, abnormally high tides and potentially damaging surf are all on the horizon.
“It’s very windy in Tasmania at the moment. We’ve got severe weather warnings current for damaging winds today, Saturday and Sunday,” he said.
Wind gusts have exceeded 100km/h on Friday, with speeds forecast to increase to over 110km/h at times on Saturday, particularly in the afternoon and evening.
“This is a situation that’s evolving quite rapidly,” Johnston said.
“All the factors and the weather are really coming together Saturday evening, so that’s when we’ll have some of the strongest winds, the highest tides and potentially some of the bigger flooding events.”
Significant waves are also expected to impact the west coast of the state and Bass Strait, with a coastal hazards warning issued for potentially damaging surf on King Island from Saturday morning.
“As well as all of this, we will see some increased water levels coming onto the north coast, potentially feeding into the Tamar Valley, making its way down into Launceston on Saturday night,” Johnston said.
Flood warnings have been issued for several rivers, including the Mersey, Lower River Derwent, Meander, Macquarie, North Esk, South Esk and Huon.
According to the BOM, 15.8mm of rain fell in Hobart in the 24 hours since 9am Thursday, with 25mm falling in Sheffield and 16mm in both Launceston and Wynyard.
SES Executive Director Mick Lowe said crews have responded to around 98 requests for assistance over the past couple of days.
“SES volunteers are prepared to assist the community wherever needed over the weekend, but we ask that the community stay aware of the conditions and prepare accordingly,” he said.
“With the nature of the winds that we’ve had in recent days, we’ve had a lot of storm damage, a lot of storm-related water inundation.”
