Australia Weather News

A man has died after he was struck by a falling tree branch while trying to flee from a violent storm with his familyat a campground near Yarrawonga, Victoria on Tuesday night.

Emergency crews were called to the campsite at Loop Track about 7pm, after reports the tree branch had fallen onto a moving car.

The 45-year-old male driver died at the scene, and his teenage son and wife were able to escape from the vehicle. 

They were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and remain in hospital. 

The family is from the Yarrawonga area. 

Wangaratta Highway Patrol Sergeant, Shaun Hillier, said they were trying to leave the site when violent storms hit the region. 

"They were in the area when the storm went through," he said. 

"I believe the other route was blocked by a tree which is why they decided to go down that [route], and unfortunately that's when the incident occurred." 

He said the fatality was tragic for the small community. 

"This is a freak accident," he said. 

"It's terrible, unfortunate circumstances that this has happened." 

Sergeant Hillier said police warned campers in the area after the fatal accident of the risks of remaining. 

"After the first [storm] there was a second front of the storm that was going through the area, so SES advised us similar hazards were going to occur in that area," he said. 

"So following their advice we simply passed on that information to the other campers and left it up to them to decide if they wanted to evacuate or stay in the area." 

Wild weather hits Victoria

The State Emergency Service received 26 calls for help in north-east Victoria's Hume region as severe storms lashed the area overnight.

Yarrawonga was the hardest hit area, with the town's SES responding to 17 calls from 6pm Tuesday to 6am today, primarily for fallen trees. 

Mick Shallies has been coming to the area to camp for the past 40 years and said he had never seen wind as strong as it was on Tuesday night.

"A mate of mine called last night and said there's a storm coming, and we had about three minutes to get the chairs in and stuff and then all of a sudden it came across, and we didn't have any time to do anything," he said.

He said when the storm front hit, he couldn't see 2 metres in front of him.

"I was in a brand new $1,400 tent, and it went airborne, our big table was nowhere to be seen," he said.

Mr Shallies described the storm as scary and said he was forced to seek shelter in his car.

Unusually high rainfall is expected around Victoria today, with areas of most concern being in the east and north-east of the state. 

Trees proving deadly 

The death follows a fatal tree collapse in October, in north-east Victoria. 

A 27-year-old Victorian man died following the collapse of a gum tree at a camping ground at Kevington. 

Police said emergency services responded to reports a tree had fallen on a tent and vehicle at Burnt Bridge Camping Ground, a remote area about half an hour's drive from the town of Mansfield near Eildon-Jamieson Road.

In August, a 77-year-old man died and a female passenger was critically injured after their car was hit by a falling tree in Victoria's south-west.

Emergency crews were called to Main Road at Gellibrand, in the Otways, after a tree fell onto the car, trapping the pair, both from Forster in New South Wales.

The Yarrawonga death is the third tree-fall death in regional Victoria in three months.

A Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action spokesperson said storms and windy weather increased the risk of tree and limb fall.

The spokesperson advised people not to camp under trees, and avoid trees that appear to be dead or have dead limbs.