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Tasmania battered by strong winds and heavy rain overnight

Written by EWN | Jul 19, 2018 7:32:00 AM

A vigorous cold front swept through Tasmania last night, bringing wind gusts in excess of 100km/h to some areas as well as heavy rainfall that led to flooding.

After a relatively pleasant (albeit) windy start to the start over the Apple Isle, conditions gradually soured as the day wore on as the second cold front in as many days hit the state.

Whilst strong winds characterised Tuesday's front, Wednesday's front brought with it widespread heavy rainfall over the western half of the state.

Strahan collected 33.2mm in the 24 hours to 9am, its heaviest rain since March, whilst Scotts Peak Dam registered 43.6mm, its best rain since November.

Over the highlands, even heavier totals were recorded, including 75mm at Cradle Valley, 78mm at Pine Forest Moor and 87mm at Lake Gwendy. These heavy falls resulted in mostly minor flooding across the region, although moderate flood levels have been recorded at the North Esk River.

Many areas also recorded strong and gusty winds in the 80-90km/h range, however only exposed areas registered wind gusts over 100km/h, including Maatsuyker Island (122km/h), Scotts Peak (113km/h) and Mount Read (104km/h).

Showers will persist for the remainder of the day and into tomorrow due to another front, before easing on the weekend.

Image: Rainfall totals recorded to 9am today (19 July, 2018) across Tasmania (Bureau of Meteorology)