Tree fall kills boy, 2, in storm

A TODDLER is dead and another badly injured after a violent storm hit east of Melbourne.

The two-year-old boy was killed after high winds toppled a tree on to a home in The Patch about 9pm on Saturday.

When emergency services arrived, they found two adults and two children trapped in the house.

They were able to remove the adults and a five-year-old girl — who suffered head, chest and leg injuries and was taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital — but could not revive the boy.

Two other adults and a 13year-old boy escaped the home unharmed.

The tragedy was one of three storm-related incidents involving trees in Melbourne.

A middle-aged woman suffered a broken leg from a tree fall in South Yarra, while a man in his 40s was also hospitalised when a tree fell on his leg at The Basin.

The State Emergency Service logged more than 1400 calls for help in the storm and into yesterday.

Picture: NATHAN DYER CELTIC HELL-RAISER: Rob “Hrothgar” Lock, of the New Varangian Guard, gets into the spirit at yesterday’s Geelong Highland Gathering at Deakin University.