WILD COLD SNAP LASHES SOUTH
A CAR carrying two adults and a four-year-old child has reportedly skidded off a snowcovered road into a ditch in the NSW central west trapping them, as a cold snap sweeps through the state.
Five paramedic units responded to the remote incident at Lidster, west of Orange, which was reported at 9am yesterday, NSW Ambulance said. No more details were available.
It comes as a light dusting of snow covered the Central Tablelands Thursday night, with higher mountain peaks receiving a few centimetres, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
“We are expecting the snow to be done with by this afternoon and anything on the ground is likely to melt away,” BOM spokeswoman Anita Titmarsh said yesterday.
A complex low-pressure system near Tasmania is to blame for the sudden winter chill as it brings wind and cold weather to much of southeast Australia.
The wild weather has caused flash flooding in Hobart’s CBD, with cars swept away and emergency crews responding to hundreds of calls for help.
Police said the CBD had been hit hard, forcing the closure of many roads and with more heavy rain expected yesterday.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Rod Dickson said southwest Victoria had been hit hard overnight on Thursday, with rainfall totals of 46mm in Mortlake and 28mm at Avalon.
“If you combine those totals with Thursday’s rainfall, the southwest has certainly seen a lot of rain – some parts of the Otways have cracked 50mm,” he said yesterday.
Damaging winds were recorded in the region, with gusts of 100km/h at Aireys Inlet.