Damaging winds have left a trail of destruction across Tasmania's north and west with trees downing powerlines, crushing vehicles, and damaging roofs. Power was cut in nearly 50,000 homes and businesses, and some communities have been left without mobile phone or internet access.
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00:00This is the aftermath of last night's high winds in suburban Launceston.
00:06Trees uprooted, footpaths ripped up, and a very close call for this family.
00:12I was peacefully playing Fortnite in the lounge room, right where that window is near the front door,
00:18and I heard a big, almost like a house shook.
00:22No one in the home was hurt, but two road crew workers were injured last night.
00:27They were doing some work to repair from storm damage, so as I mentioned, our hearts go out to them.
00:33I understand some of their injuries are quite severe, though non-life-threatening.
00:38Wind gusts hit all-time peaks in some parts of the state.
00:42We had record wind gusts for Launceston Airport of 130 kilometres per hour,
00:47and at King Island of 157 kilometres per hour.
00:50The SES responded to close to 350 calls for help last night.
00:55The damage and destruction we saw last night was wind-driven primarily,
01:00broken windows, broken roofs, a lot of downed trees.
01:04Chris Kilby is looking at a big damage bill at his farm,
01:07after high winds picked up an irrigator and blew the roof off his shed.
01:11The afternoon's going to be spent tidying all that up, making it safe for the next storm fronts coming through.
01:18At the height of the storm, power was cut to 47,000 properties, mostly in the north and the northwest.
01:25We've seen extensive damage to power lines, wires down, poles down, and our crews are working tirelessly.
01:32But could be up to five days before electricity is restored to some areas.
01:37Power has been on and off for a week at this wildlife park at Gunns Plains.
01:41We closed, and we have 26 staff here, so we've got to look after them and keep everything else going,
01:48and so it's cost us a fortune.
01:51Power supply to the Northwest Regional Hospital and two district hospitals was disrupted over the weekend.
01:57Some elective surgery was impacted.
01:59If you need to present at an emergency department, in this case the Northwest Regional Hospital, it is safe to do so.
02:06The power outages also affected telephone networks across Tasmania.
02:10Several cell towers were running on backup power, which ran out due to the length of the power disruptions.
02:16The winds have eased in most parts of the north and the cleanup has started.
02:20But those in the central parts of the state will still be on alert with warnings of more severe weather to come.