Dust storm hits Mildura and Bendigo, wind gusts of up to 100km/h expected across the state

About 5pm on Monday, it issued a watch-and-act warning to residents between Warrenheip, simply east of Ballarat, to Benambra close to the NSW border, the place wind gusts of as much as 100km/h have been forecast.

The SES advised folks keep indoors and park their vehicles away from timber.

The same warning was issued to residents close to Port Phillip Bay, which may expertise gusts between 90km/h and 100km/h on Monday evening. The wind is anticipated to ease by Tuesday morning.

A 3rd alert warned folks in coastal Victoria of abnormally excessive tides.

“[These] may lead to seawater flooding of low-lying areas of the Victorian coast. The highest tides are expected for Tuesday,” the SES mentioned.

A wave of orange

The bureau mentioned dry situations have been behind the mud storm affecting south-east Australia, and that mud had lowered visibility to 500 metres in some elements of Victoria and NSW, and reached so far as Swan Hill and Bendigo.

Rainfall has been beneath common for the previous two years throughout a lot of western Victoria and jap South Australia.

Pictures and movies taken in Mildura on Monday afternoon present a wave of orange engulfing the inland metropolis.

Photographs of the mud storm blanketing elements of South Australia have been additionally posted on-line.

A video from the city of Orroroo by South Australian media character Andrew “Cosi” Costello exhibits a thick orange haze lowering visibility to lower than a number of hundred metres.

In a press release on Monday evening, the bureau mentioned “a dust storm at this time of year is unusual for South Australia, which usually experiences dust storms in summer”.

In Victoria, the SES informed residents to shut doorways and home windows and stay indoors when the storm arrived.

The mud additionally travelled to NSW’s far west, with border areas reporting “extremely poor” air high quality for a number of hours.

Sudden change

Laura, who works in Swan Hill, mentioned she first observed the mud whereas at work early Monday afternoon.

However then a thicker mud cloud blew over whereas she was driving house to Quambatook, 60 kilometres south. Inside minutes, the visibility had dropped from one kilometre to as little as 30 metres.

“We haven’t got it as bad as [south-western Victoria], but we definitely need rain here,” she mentioned.

“The dirt has crossed the road, so farmers won’t like that if they’ve started sowing crops already.”

The final mud storms to hit the area have been in 2022 and 2019.