Thunderstorm asthma attack on Melbourne was ‘equivalent to a terrorist attack’

A sudden drop in temperature in Melbourne on Monday evening from peaks of 35 degrees Celsius brought with it severe thunderstorms and triggered a mass asthma event that left hospitals struggling to treat 8,500 patients.

There is a small group of researchers around the world working to understand the phenomena known as “thunderstorm asthma”, which although rare, can have devastating consequences. Climate change, they say, may be where part of the blame lies. On Sunday 20 people remained in hospitals across Victoria, struggling with respiratory and related conditions, while four remained in critical condition. At least five people are known to have died after their asthma was triggered during the thunderstorm, the health department confirmed over the weekend. A major, state-wide investigation into the response of emergency services to the event has been ordered.

Paramedics did the best they could to respond to an unprecedented 1,900 emergency calls in five hours on the evening of November 21 but were unable to reach everyone in a reasonable time. Ambulances made constant trips to emergency departments already overwhelmed as hundreds of patients streamed in under their own steam. The acting general secretary of Ambulance Employees Australia, Danny Hill, said it would have been a traumatising night for paramedics.

“For anyone who worked that night, from staff on the ground to senior management, they regarded it as the busiest night they ever worked in their whole careers,” he said.

“Very few crews got fed. They worked 14 hours straight. Everyone worked together, worked hard, and stepped up. There was about 30 people who were so severely ill that they had to be taken straight into intensive care. So you’re talking an event equivalent to a bushfire where people are severely burned, or a terrorist attack where people are critically injured. That’s the level of chaos our crews dealt with on Monday night.”

Asthma patients can be some of the most difficult for paramedics to respond to. They deteriorate very quickly, and severe cases require more than the immediate treatment a paramedic can provide, including continuous days of intravenous drugs and ventilation. Many, Hill said, went into cardiac arrest.

Kathy Bowlen from St Vincent’s hospital said the emergency department there had considered opening a temporary emergency department in the foyer of the hospital to cope with the demand.