Victoria warned to prepare for ‘destruction’ with severe weather and snow forecast

Severe weather warnings covered much of South Australia, Victoria and parts of Tasmania and NSW on Friday, with damaging winds expected as far into NSW as the southern and central tablelands on Friday afternoon. Illustration: Bureau of Meteorology

Blizzards have been forecast for parts of Victoria and residents have been warned to prepare for power outages and “destruction” as damaging winds are expected to lash the south-eastern states into the weekend.

An intense cold front began moving across Victoria from South Australia on Friday, after rain, thunderstorms and destructive winds battered the Adelaide metro area and surrounds on Thursday night and Friday morning, and a tornado warning was briefly issued.