CHRIS Lahy and his family have never experienced anything like the storm that hit Lake Boga last Thursday night.
Homes up and down the street were flooded, had roof damage and tree limbs were strewn across the road but the Lahy’s had an exceptional near miss when an 80 foot gum crashed down metres from their home.
The family is safe but their wheelie bin was crushed like a can while a car was damaged. The fence and neighbours’ trampoline were flattened while the bikes were sandwiched beneath the 80ft tree and the second gum it brought down.
“We’ve lived here since 2006, and we’ve had limbs fly off but nothing like this – it was cyclonic,” Mr Lahy said.
At around 8.10pm the storm came through and it was like the roar of a jet engine, we couldn’t see outside with the rain but we heard it crash, snap, bang.”
Jaz, 21, and Elijah, 19, were on hand the next morning to help dad try to deal with the mess but the family said it was beyond their capabilities.
“Even when SES turned up they just said, ‘Woah, we’re gonna have to think about this one’,” Mr Lahy said.
The refrigerator technician has already spoken with his neighbours about the damage they’ve experienced from water leaking through roofs and losing smaller trees in the wind.
The Lahy family also found a pool of water around their chimney after the storm that comes as wilder, rainier weather pelts the state.
Meteorologist Miriam Bradbury told The Guardian nearby Swan Hill recorded a 131km/h wind gust with passing storms around 8:30pm Thursday night.
“This is this highest wind gust recorded at this station, the previous record of 111km/h was set on 19 December 2010,” she said.
A dominant La Nina weather pattern is driving climate, Ms Bradbury explained.
“It is not a weather trigger, but it does increase the chance of humid and stormy weather,” she said.
“A slow-moving low-pressure trough will gradually be moving from the western districts to central and eastern districts over the next few days.
“For the north-west part of Victoria, including the Swan Hill, Lake Boga, and Kerang areas, the week ahead looks reasonably settled.”
While there was a slight chance of thunderstorms yesterday and today, these storms are likely to be isolated and not producing significant rainfall.
