A man has died after a falling tree branch crushed his vehicle at a campground during a severe storm in northern Victoria.
Emergency services responded to the incident at the Loop Track camping area at 7.10pm on Tuesday and police confirmed that “a large tree branch had fallen on a moving vehicle during a major weather event”.
A teenager and a woman in their 50s were also injured and both were taken to Northeast Health Wangaratta for treatment for upper body injuries.
An Ambulance Victoria spokesperson confirmed the woman was “in a serious but stable condition”, while the child’s condition was described as “stable”.
The man’s identity has yet to be confirmed, as have the exact circumstances surrounding the incident.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Yarrawonga on Tuesday night, urging residents to “shelter indoors immediately”.
The fallen tree was one of 30 that were reported to the Victorian State Emergency Service overnight as storms wreaked havoc across the state.
Parts of north-west Victoria received unusually heavy rain earlier this week as a trough moved down from northern Australia.
The incident occurred at the Loop Track camping area in Yarrawonga (map shown in photo)
A man died after a falling tree branch crushed his vehicle at a campsite during a freak storm (pictured, storm damage in Queensland)
Weatherzone meteorologist Anthony Sharwood said northeastern parts of Victoria and the High Country are “in line for a good swim”.
Victoria will have a hot and humid day on Wednesday with severe thunderstorms forecast across central and eastern areas of the state.
Storms are also forecast for Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Albury-Wodonga and the Latrobe Valley.
A severe weather warning for damaging winds is in effect for alpine areas in the state’s northeast, with winds expected to reach 110 km/hour on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, temperatures are expected to hit 40C in parts of New South Wales as the state sweats under a sticky heatwave on Wednesday.
Millions of Australians have been warned that more power outages are likely as an ongoing heatwave pushes electricity demand to its highest levels since June.