‘Torn’ to pieces

By Tania Martin
A TORNADO-style storm ripped through Monbulk last week, leaving a trail of destruction.
The people of Monbulk went from sweltering in 42-degree heat to sheltering as a storm raged outside.
The storm hit just after 6.30pm on Tuesday, 16 January, with gale-force winds, hailstones and rain causing havoc.
Wayne Millard of Kelly Lane said it was like a mini-tornado went through the town.
Mr Millard said a fridge that was sitting on his verandah was picked up and blown three metres around the corner of his house.
He said hailstones also pelted the house, and sounded like bullets hitting the roof.
“We just heard a bang – I have never seen anything like it,” he said
“We were too scared to go outside and have a look because the hailstones were so big.”
Stephen King from the Bureau of Meteorology said that despite reports of the storm mirroring a tornado it has been classified as a severe storm.
Mr King said the bureau issued a severe storm warning at 6.19pm on Tuesday, just in time to warn residents of the impending storm.
He said the wind speed would have been in excess of 90-95 kilometres per hour to cause the damage it did.
Monbulk also received 10 millimetres of rainfall.
Clive Weeks of David Hill Road was blissfully unaware that there was a storm raging in Monbulk because he was in Upwey.
He was shocked when his neighbour rang to tell him a tree had fallen on part of his house and taken out his two sheds.
“I was astonished because it was still really hot in Upwey,” he said.
“Even when I was driving back to Monbulk I didn’t see any signs of a storm until I reached the outskirts of town.
Mr Weeks said the tree demolished his sheds but didn’t cause much damage to his house.
Although he didn’t experience the storm, Mr Weeks was astonished by the accounts that his neighbours told of swirling strong winds and large hailstones.
“It just seemed to be so localised and strong,” he said.
An Emerald volunteer with the State Emergency Service, Andrew Buck said it was something he had never seen before.
“It was like a band of wind went straight through Monbulk and the outskirts of Emerald,” he said.
Twelve Emerald SES volunteers spent a sleepless night helping to clear away some of the debris from the storm.
Mr Buck said two crews worked from 6.30pm til 1.30am.
He said Emerald SES had 15 call-outs in an hour but was able work through them with the help of Monbulk CFA, VicRoads and the Shire of Yarra Ranges.
Mr Buck said it is not unusual for the SES to have a high number of call-outs in a night but he has never seen the calls come all at once.
“I’ve never seen so many calls come in at once. I couldn’t keep up because every time I put the phone down we had another call,” he said.