The inquest, which started on Monday, also heard evidence that asthma and hay fever is poorly looked after in the community. Nearly all the 10 people who died had severe asthma, but only three had proper treatment plans. "We've been banging on about them for ages," Professor Douglass said. Professor Jo Douglass outside court on Monday. Credit:Joe Armao More troublingly, most of them did not use a rapid strong dose from their asthma puffers when the thunderstorm attack struck.

All 35 people admitted to intensive care during the attack had been diagnosed with asthma in the past, but only 12 of them regularly used preventer puffers – despite the puffers having been shown to be safe for long-term daily use, Professor Douglass said. Loading “A lot of people worry [about long-term use] … a lot of clinical networks worry. But the evidence is that they’re very safe. I think they’re underused.” Both of those things would have been covered under a treatment plan and possibly could have helped, said Professor Douglass. In most cases, the victims had been outside when they ran into breathing problems. Some of the victims even headed outside after symptoms struck to try to get clean air. Staying inside with the windows closed seemed to protect people, Professor Douglass said.

The inquest, before Coroner Paresa Spanos, opened with the stories of the 10 people who lost their lives. On November 21, 2016, about 6pm, Omar Moujalled had wandered outside his family’s Greenvale home about to collect a couple of cushions from the yard. A cool change had just washed over the city, bringing relief from 35-degree temperatures – but also filling the air with ryegrass pollen. High moisture in the air burst the pollen into tiny fragments, small enough for Omar to breath them deeply into his lungs, and strong winds whipped them across the suburbs. Omar Moujalled The asthma-sufferer's body immediately reacted to the foreign particles, kickstarting a massive allergic reaction. The 18-year-old found himself struggling to breathe.

His mother put him in the car and drove to a local medical clinic, while Omar tried to use his own asthma medication, the court heard. At 6.32pm, according to an official report into the disaster, triple zero recieved a call. When the family arrived at the clinic, about 6.40pm, Omar collapsed and stopped breathing, the court heard. Staff tried to resuscitate him as they waited for an ambulance. At 6.49pm an ambulance arrived at the clinic, and paramedics started performing CPR. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video At 7.10, Omar was pronounced dead. A test would later show his sensitivity to ryegrass pollen was “off the scale”.

About an hour earlier, Apollo Papadopoulos lay in a friend's yard, blue in the face, as his mother frantically called triple zero. She was disconnected several times as the 000 system came under siege; eventually she got through and called an ambulance. The family then had to watch two ambulances fly by the house, full lights and sirens, on the way to other cases as Mr Papadopoulos lay dying. One eventually arrived at 7.16. Mr Papadopoulos was pronounced dead an hour later. Hope Carnevali's mother found her on the couch of their Hoppers Crossing home about 6.15, using her asthma medication and struggling to breath, the court heard. Relatives of Hope Carnevali leave the Coroners Court in Melbourne on Monday. Credit:Joe Armao Hope, 20, told her mother to call an ambulance; the call took about 10 minutes to get through, the court heard, with triple zero logging it at 6.32pm according to an official report into the tragedy.

In the meantime, Hope’s family moved her to the front yard to get some fresh air. There, she collapsed, unable to breathe. An ambulance arrived at 7.03pm but she was unable to be revived. Omar, Apollo and Hope's stories are the first to be told at Coroner Spanos’s closely-watched inquest into the thunderstorm asthma event, which will look at the scientific causes of the disaster and how it could be forecast in the future. The inquest will not look at the emergency response, which has been extensively examined in other inquiries. Four of the 10 people who died in the November 2016 thunderstorm asthma epidemic: Hope Carnevali (left), Omar Moujalled, Apollo Papadopoulos, and Clarence Leo. Only one other death has been recorded anywhere in the world from thunderstorm asthma, the court heard.