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.
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