By Derek Schlennstedt
Fierce winds uprooted trees on a day of extreme weather in the Dandenong Ranges, as the state baked through its equal-hottest November day this century, before thunderstorms wreaked havoc across the suburbs.
A day of Total Fire Ban across the state was declared for 21 November and Parks Victoria announced that the Thousands Steps were also closed to the public.
It was a one-two punch of strong northerly winds and hot temperatures early in the day, as gusts of more than 100 km/h kicked up dust and pollen while the city sweltered to a top of 40.9 degrees at 2pm – matching a November 1894 record.
An afternoon cool change swept through the region soon after with the resulting thunderstorms damaging buildings, pushing over trees, causing power outages and even bushfires.
At 4pm a Watch and Act notice was issued for a bushfire on Rankins Road, Monbulk with two aircraft called in to battle the 1-2 hectare blaze.
The bushfire crossed Rankins Road late on 22 November and travelled towards Spring Road and David Hill Road, Monbulk. It took over ten CFA crews to stop the spread of the fire, along with air support.
SES crews worked over time throughout the day with trees falling by the dozen.
Emerald SES Deputy Controller Steve Reid said the unit attended around 20 jobs for fallen trees.
“We had 20 jobs on the Thursday afternoon; the majority were trees down on road. There were three trees down on driveways and two were minor building damage,” he said.
“We had a real rush in the afternoon around Emerald and Monbulk and are standing at 79 incidents since the start of November.”
The region was struck with severe power outages across Mount Evelyn, Monbulk, Olinda and Menzies Creek. Over two and half thousand houses were affected in Mount Evelyn with the power only returning the following day on 23 November.
Donald Martin had a close encounter with a massive gum tree when it was blown over in the front garden of his Fernhill Road house in Mount Evelyn.
Mail photographer Greg Carrick caught the devastation and said that despite the area being without power at the time, the tree brought down more power lines with it, adding to the delays in getting power restored.
