Severe weather warnings for damaging winds have been issued for southeastern NSW, parts of the ACT, across Victoria, the southern coast of South Australia and most of Tasmania.
Moderate flood alerts are current for much of the island state, including for the Derwent, Isis, Meander and Mersey rivers.
Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Luke Johnston said the situation was evolving rapidly, with wild weather likely to peak on Saturday night before easing from Tuesday.
Tasmania Police Southern Commander Jason Elmer said there had been 20 collisions in the 24 hours to 3pm on Friday, which he said was excessive.
Widespread strong winds will continue to impact much of south-east Aus this weekend. Severe Weather Warnings for damaging winds are current for Tas, parts of Vic, south-east SA, south-east NSW. Warnings will likely remain until early next week.— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) Latest: https://t.co/4W35o8i7wJ pic.twitter.com/CLupIWPdEsAugust 30, 2024
He urged people in flood-affected regions to stay home if there was no need to be in the area.
"We just really urge drivers to slow down, to drive with caution, put their headlights on in these conditions, ensure there's further distance between your vehicle and the vehicle in front of you, obey all road signs," he said.
Authorities in all affected states have warned people to particularly watch for falling trees, following the death of a 77-year-old motorist in Victoria's southwest on Wednesday.
He and his partner became trapped in their car in Gellibrand, with the 73-year-old woman in a serious but stable condition in hospital.
"Motorists should drive to the conditions, avoid driving through heavily treed areas during periods of high winds and remain vigilant to the risk of fallen trees and debris," Victorian SES State Agency Commander Mark Cattell said.
He warned localised power outages could occur at any time and anyone who came across fallen powerlines to steer clear, assume they are live and alert authorities.
Electricity distributer AusNet said the week had been the longest sustained weather event its network had faced in over a decade, with at least 3000 Victorians still without power as of Friday.
There's been more than 4200 calls for assistance to the State Emergency Service in Victoria, NSW and Tasmania since wild winds picked up earlier this week.
AAP understands almost 50 flights were cancelled at Sydney airport due to high winds on Wednesday, mostly impacting domestic routes.
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