SEVERE winds kept Hamilton SES crews busy on Sunday evening when the first of several calls for assistance came in just after midnight.
Unit controller Tim Fry said two crews were constantly attending calls that included trees across multiple roads, trees across powerlines and unsecured items such as trampolines that had blown away.
He said the majority of calls were in and around the Hamilton area, and that the crews were still busy well into Monday.
Mr Fry said the SES crews were also supported by other agencies to attend to the jobs.
“Our crews were joined by the Shire and VicRoads who sent support crews,” Mr Fry said.
Dunkeld SES volunteer, Brad Bowe, was also busy with the Dunkeld crew after multiple call outs, including attending to a property where the roof had blown off a residence.
He said he personally had not stopped as of Monday afternoon since first being called out early Monday morning.
“I think the first call came in around 1.30am,” Mr Bowe said.
“It’s mostly been trees … we’ve attended a couple of building damage … one was a squashed fence and a caravan from a large gum tree.
“Another call out was a roof that had blown off a portable building.
“I was up on the roof but the site was still pretty dangerous – we just tried to secure it as much as we could with ropes.”
Mr Bowe said Dunkeld SES were fortunate to have crew members to call on but that they could always do with more volunteers.
“We’ve shuffled the crew around a bit so they are fresh – there’s mostly been six of us at any one time between two vehicles.”
A spokesperson for Southern Grampians Shire Council (SGSC) said crews also attended to just over 150 fallen trees and branches they said over the last few days.
“The vast majority of which were trees and tree limbs across roads,” they said.
SGSC asked residents if they see downed trees, debris or tree limbs covering roads, to please get in contact with their customer service team and they will endeavour to send the next available crew out to help.
The Victoria State Emergency Service advised that residents should stay informed through the VicEmergency and the Bureau of Meteorology Apps, also to secure any outdoor items such as umbrellas, chairs and trampolines, and to stay away from trees, drains, gutters, creeks and waterways.
Meanwhile, Powercor was working around the clock to restore power that was cut to thousands of homes on Sunday and Monday.
A spokesperson told the Spectator that in total, Powercor said that 716 homes in Hamilton and the surrounding area were impacted.
“Crews continued repairing the power network that was extensively damaged during Monday night’s wild weather,” they said.
“Our crews are replacing power poles, rebuilding fallen powerlines and repairing other electrical infrastructure damaged by trees, branches and other debris.”
If people do see a fallen powerline, they should stay well away from them and report them to Powercor immediately and to always assume a powerline is live.
