Sudden storms wreak havoc in the Shire

LAST Wednesday, January 15, was a day of wild weather for most of the region, with strong winds resulting in a large number of trees down, blackouts and properties damaged that afternoon. At approximately 1pm, the storm began with light rainfall, before thunderclaps preceded the arrival of a furious deluge which had pedestrians running for cover. Emergency services across Alpine Shire were kept busy with dozens of call-outs throughout the day, out of the hundred calls for help across all of north-east Victoria. “We had 20 requests for assistance (RFAs) from the Myrtleford area," Myrtleford SES Controller, David Coates said. “There were also another three on Thursday and two on Friday; these were probably a consequence of Wednesday’s storm, as damaged trees took their time to fall over. “Things got a bit tight for us in terms of personnel, as some unit members were at at work when the storm hit. “There was also a fatal car crash at 1pm on Wednesday, on the Great Alpine Road, which we attended with the Wangaratta SES Unit,” Mr Coates said. “As we were driving out to the incident, suddenly the storm hit and we got page after page of RFAs in town. “To address them all, we called on members of the Myrtleford CFA, who attended a number of those RFAs for us. Myrtleford SES were supported by the Beechworth, Chiltern, Yakandandah and Wodonga SES Units and the Myrtleford CFA in a coordinated effort to clear these quickly. Myrtleford Unit had a total of 12 locals who volunteered their time, with some taking time out of their paid work. "A huge thank-you to all these people for their expert and timely assistance," Mr Coates said. "Overall, it was one of our most challenging days in years. “One house had its entire roof removed. “There were a few others properties that had damage to the buildings but not to the same extent as that. “And a large number of trees had come down across roads or driveways, limiting people’s access to their homes." Mr Coates said when a tree falls across a driveway and prevents access, the SES will always attend, because it has become a safety issue. THE Bright SES were also inundated; with 28 calls on Wednesday and several follow-up calls on Thursday. “We were fairly busy, with calls coming from Bright, Porepunkah, Mount Beauty, Mount Buffalo, Germantown, Freeburgh and the Buckland Valley," Bright SES Controller, Graham Gales said. “There was a significant number of trees down on powerlines, which caused power-outages for a long period of time in some areas in Bright, including Wandiligong, “The Bright CFA were called to instances where a couple of transformers had caught on fire. “Throughout the day we were mostly working with the shire; busy clearing roads and so on. “There was a section in Coronation Avenue, where about five trees had come down and caused some power-loss there. “Our thanks to Victoria Police (Bright and Myrtleford), Ambulance Victoria, Alpine Shire, Parks Victoria, DEECA, Mystic Park Bike Patrol, Bright Fire Brigade, Porepunkah CFA, Mount Beauty CFA and Fire Rescue Victoria: Wangaratta for their assistance. “There was a significant commitment to clean up by the Shire on Thursday and Friday and the roads are now open. "But there’s still lots of clean-up to do; collecting fallen trees that need to be mulched and so on." One clearing team from the Alpine Shire including Kyle Eads, team leader and open spaces officer, Adrian Bell, general open spaces gardener and Shania Henshall, unsealed road crew-member, swiftly cleared away a fallen tree branch that had blocked the east end of Elgin Street in Myrtleford. "We’ve attended four call-outs so far,” Mr Eads said. "It's going well so far and we have two more call-outs to attend still." “Our next stop is to assist at the Prince Street tree falling incident," Ms Henshall said. "We’ll swing back around tomorrow to collect these branches.” To assist with the clean-up of fallen trees and branches, the Alpine Shire Council transfer stations in Mount Beauty, Myrtleford and Porepunkah offered free green waste disposal on Saturday, January 18. Buffalo River resident, Robert Dark, welcomed his brother Stephen to assist in clearing away branches that had fallen in his yard. “Luckily there was no structural damage to the property," Robert said as he paused after operating a chainsaw. "But the trees! "My poor Golden Ash tree: it was doing well “The storm came right over the valley and left a trail of destruction,” Stephen said. "Luckily the neighbours were out of town as their roof came off during the storm and no-one was injured."

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