AnswerID: 296399 Submitted: Thursday, Apr 03, 2008 at 14:45
pitboss
replied:
Wild
weather conditions across
Tasmania have eased as emergency services continue to clean-up after the storms which were at their most intense from midnight until 5:00am.
The storm may have had hurricane-force gusts of wind, but they were not enough to set new records.
The most powerful gust was on Hobart's eastern shore - 176 kilometres per hour at around 4:00am.
Simon McCulloch from the
Weather Bureau says the sustained nature of the storm was highly unusual, but winds have moderated considerably.
"I would envisage that the severe
weather warning would be cancelled about 4 o'clock this afternoon," he said.
Police responded to more than 130 emergency calls overnight, while the State Emergency Service received almost 150 calls by 9:00am.
SES southern regional manager, Geoff Marsh, says volunteers will spend the day making repairs to homes and removing fallen trees.
Aurora Energy spokeswoman, Barbara McGregor, says fewer than 500 of the original 40,000 households affected, remain without power, but she says some of the blacked-out homes may not have electricity restored today.
"Crews are working very hard to restore power we have not time estimations on this yet and it will be a progressive effort througout the day," she said.
Despite the storm's intensity, only one person was injured - an off-duty police man who was later released from hospital after suffering cuts to his leg.
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