As prep began for the year, there was sad news in Emerald as a local business closed up for good, while the region dealt with summer weather systems that kept emergency responders very busy.
The beloved paddleboats were announced to be closing down at Emerald Lake and the attraction stopped running by 9 February.
Cardinia Council said at the time that it will now be considering future opportunities for the lake.
Early February saw temperatures soar and a power widespread outage as a result, in what Ausnet has described as a ‘challenging’ weekend.
Around 50,000 customer outages dropped power across Victoria.
The tail end of some weather systems had crossed the state over the weekend, and Sunday 9 February, saw residents of nearly 5,000 homes in Ferntree Gully, Sassafras, Boronia, The Basin, Ferny Creek, Upwey and more drop power overnight.
The weather did more than drop power; it also caused many fires from lightning strikes, including one which took out the local community radio station’s antenna, located in Kallista. CFA confirmed in early 2025 that by February, over 200 fires caused by lightning had occurred in Victoria.
“From 1 January 2025 to 11 February 2025 there have been 235 fire incidents occur throughout the state where the ignition factor was lightning including the fires that have occurred in the Grampians National Park and Little Desert in the state’s West,” they said.
This includes 71 incidents in the North East Region, which covers the Yarra Ranges, and 67 incidents in the South East Region.
Summer storm weather did not let up, and the weekend of 22 and 23 February saw high callouts reported by SES Emerald and Knox, with lots of fallen trees causing havoc.
