The news began spreading Sunday night, as schools across Victoria sent online messages to parents and carers that multiple schools across the battered state would be closed on Monday, 2 September because of wild weather.
Kilbreda College in Mentone, Melbourne, was one such school – telling parents the Victorian state government had advised schools to “transition to remote learning” as the cold front left its mark.
“Due to the forecast of damaging winds overnight and into tomorrow, the Victorian Government has advised schools transition to remote learning,” the message read.
“As a result, Kilbreda College will be closed tomorrow. We encourage students to use this time to complete any outstanding assignments and homework, as well as to prepare for upcoming assessments.”
On the Mornington Peninsula in regional Victoria, Balcombe Grammar School utilised Facebook to tell parents “extreme weather and power outage” meant no school today.
Killester Springvale also advised accessing online learning until the bad weather abated.
The Victorian State government published a full list of early childhood centres and school closures around 8.30am this morning.
With destructive winds of up to 130 kilometres an hour forecast, Watch and Act alerts were issued across Victoria, including Melbourne and suburbs, the Southwest Coast and the Macedon Ranges., the Mornington Peninsula to Wilsons Promontory, and the Northeast ranges.
Victorians in affected areas are being urged to avoid beaches as conditions will be dangerous, with potential for low-lying areas to flood due to abnormally high tides.