By Tanya Steele
Victoria continues to experience severe weather as emergency services and volunteers deal with the fallout of a storm that was likened to the strength of a cyclone that moved through the state overnight on Sunday 1 September.
Wind, hail and rain lashed the region with intense weather events in the early hours of Monday 2 September causing multiple tree falls, power outages and building damage as residents across the Dandenongs and Yarra Valley persevered through the restless night.
Over 100,000 people across Victoria were without power overnight as SES across the outer east reported multiple road closures and tree falls.
By the morning of 2 September SES Emerald Controller Ben Owen said the unit had over 100 requests for assistance.
SES Lilydale controller Shaun Caulfield said by 10.30 am they’d had 48 requests for assistance in the last eight hours and there were multiple reports of trees over roads and power lines and several reports of damage to structures in Montrose and Kalorama.
In Knox, SES controller Branden Butler said their uni had been out since 2am attending over 50 requests for assistance.
“A large portion of these call outs are for trees down in the city of Knox, along with supporting the Emerald SES,” he said.
Victoria State SES reported via social media that statewide there had been more than 2,800 requests for assistance, with over 1,300 jobs still active since 7pm the previous evening.
“This includes over 2,100 trees down, and 650 calls for building damage,” the post read.
Premier Jacinta Allan joined Emergency Services minister Jaclyn Symes, Emergency Management Commissioner Rick Nugent, Victoria State Emergency Service chief operations officer Tim Wiebusch and Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Kevin Parkyn on Monday morning for a live press conference broadcast by Vic Emergency to prepare for more weather expected on the evening of Monday 2 September.
Premier Allan said areas of potential risk included the South West Coast, including the Bellarine Peninsula, parts of Geelong Mornington Peninsula across to Wilson’s promontory, Dandenong Ranges, the Yarra Ranges, the Alpine ranges, and also the Macedon Ranges.
“So Victorians statewide, but particularly in those areas, are urged to stay informed and be aware of the potential hazards, particularly for Victorians who live in heavily treed areas,” she said.
“Please have a plan. Keep in touch with the Vic emergency app, and also if you can consider relocating to a family or friends if needed, because, as we know with events like this, community safety is absolutely paramount when our state is experiencing another extreme weather event.”
Premier Allan also extended her sympathies to the family of a woman who died in Moama on the Victorian border overnight.
Emergency Management Commissioner Rick Nugent said he wanted to thank the community.
“It is really clear to us that the community did listen to the messages over the past couple of days,” he said.
Over 660 properties have been damaged due to this weather event and Commissioner Nugent said at its peak 180,000 homes and businesses were without power across the state.
Senior Meteorologist from the Bureau of Meteorology Kevin Parkyn said it’s been a tiring week for Victoria.
“The spring gale wind events that basically battered Victoria overnight have moved to the east of the state and cleared the far east. So that’s some good news,” he said.
“Severe weather warnings are still in place and damaging winds are still expected, particularly across southern and mountain areas of Victoria.”
“These weather systems, there’s a reason for them, and the dynamics are quite often associated with strong temperature contrast.”
“What we’ve seen right across the country, including Victoria in recent weeks, is temperatures have been well above normal. Victoria’s just had its warmest winter on record, and I believe it’s second warmest August on record.”
AusNet reported on 2 September that across the state approximately 112,000 people were without power after outages overnight.
“We have crews in the field currently assessing the damage. The weather is still affecting the network and it is very hazardous, so this may take a little longer than usual,” they said.
Andrew Linnie, Executive General Manager, Distribution said the current strong wind conditions impacting customers on their electricity network is the longest sustained weather event the network has faced in more than 10 years.
AusNet has generators temporarily stationed in Emerald, Cockatoo and Mirboo North ready to be connected to provide backup power to town centres.
Member for Monbulk Daniela De Martino said there has been quite a bit of anxiety this past week amongst many people across the Dandenongs.
“I know many of us haven’t slept well for a number of these nights and were on tenterhooks on Sunday night,” she said.
“Thousands are without power and the calls for assistance to the SES are still coming through as of Monday morning. I hope everyone is safe and well.”
Ms De Martino said it was great to see AusNet setting up large generators in Cockatoo and Emerald last Tuesday in anticipation of prolonged power outages.
“These will ensure that local traders supplying essentials such as food, fuel and medicines to name a few, can continue to service their communities even if the powerlines go down,” she said.
“The next organisations who we now need to see step up to support our community better are the telcos.”
“It is absolutely critical that they prioritise our area for mobile tower power resilience. When you can’t dial 000, it can literally be a matter of life and death.”
Across the board, heartfelt thanks were expressed by the community and officials to the emergency service volunteers.
“I can’t speak about this situation without expressing my sincerest and deepest thanks to all of our emergency service volunteers, especially Emerald SES, who have worked tirelessly this past week and on Father’s Day, to keep our roads safe and damaged homes and vehicles secure,” said Ms De Martino.
As more weather rolls in this week, residents are advised to stay up to date with the VicEmergency app, be prepared and consider relocating.
Faults, emergencies or damaged or fallen powerlines can be reported online at www.ausnetservices.com.au/report-a-fault or by calling AusNet on 13 17 99. We will keep our Outage Tracker up to date with restoration times. www.outagetracker.com.au.
