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Urgent Warning Issued As Temperatures Plummet On Australia's East Coast

Urgent Warning Issued As Temperatures Plummet On Australia's East Coast

Residents have been warned to take shelter and stay away from fallen power lines and trees in parts of Australia

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

We've said it once and we'll say it again - Britain gets more than its fair share of bad weather. So perhaps we could all be forgiven for thinking it's someone else's turn to experience a few months of grey skies, perma-drizzle and general chilliness.

Still, as much as we'd be grateful for Australia's sunny climes in exchange, the news that they're experiencing severe weather warnings issued is really not what we had in mind.

But it seems that's what the country's getting whether anyone likes it or not - howling winds and heavy rain are making their way across the east coast of Australia as winter well and truly sets in.

According to MailOnline, residents have been warned to take shelter and stay away from fallen power lines and trees - which sort of goes without saying, but you can't be too careful.

Winds of up to 90km/h are expected to batter their way through the country this afternoon.

Emergency services have warned people to move their cars away from trees and park under shelter, and to secure loose items around houses or balconies.

Heading out to my car to move it away from something we'd already been warned to keep away from is the last thing I'd want to do in these circumstances, but probably best to do it now than when the real weather hits, I suppose.

PA

State Emergency Service warned: "Keep at least eight metres away from fallen power lines or objects that may be energized, such as fences." Seems like common sense, but we all have that one friend...

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Jordan Notara told Daily Mail Australia that parts of New South Wales were hit with gusts of 89km/h that were 'experienced around mid-morning' and experienced waves as big as five metres.

And many shivered their way through the morning with some people waking to -6C near upper Hunter Valley, NSW.

Wet conditions are expected throughout the weekend until Tuesday with up to about 10 millimeters predicted every day.

PA

Although Australia might be experiencing a torrential downpour (note the slight over-exaggeration) they may also be hit with snow in the alpine regions.

Rose Barr from the Bureau of Meteorology said: "Showers are largely coastal, a few stations on the eastern side of Great Dividing Range saw one millimetre but more significant falls are confined to the coast."

Just gets better, doesn't it?

Let's put all this into perspective for a second, just days ago a 'danger to life' weather warning has been issued by the Met Office following a night of heavy thunderstorms in parts of the UK overnight. This means flooding, in short.

In Winterbourne, near Birmingham, 58.6mm of rain was recorded in an hour. Yes, an hour.

Grim times down under.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Weather, World News, Warning, Storm, Interesting, Community, Australia, Rain