By Tanya Steele and Tyler Wright
Storm recovery continues across Victoria and the SES in Emerald and Knox have reported massive and ongoing devastation in their local areas.
The recent storm that wiped out power across the state on Tuesday 13 February has left behind a trail of destruction, with volunteers still responding to calls for help in the community.
VICSES has now responded to nearly 6000 requests for assistance since the severe storms and SES Unit Controller from Emerald Ben Owen said that Emerald SES had received over 500 calls on the day of the storm.
“We had approximately 100 people a day working in the field to clear trees from roads, driveways and property including people’s homes,” he said.
Initial responses on the day of the storm came in for rescue persons trapped in homes and cars and deputy controller of training from the SES Knox unit, Trudi Prat said it was pretty evident very quickly, that there were some pretty extreme issues with what she described as a ‘micro storm’ that went through the area last week.
“The worst impacted areas that we had – and it was almost instantaneous, was Ferntree Gully and Knoxfield followed by Rowville,” she said.
Mr Owen said the Emerald crew, with assistance from Pakenham, helped to free two trapped residents from their home in Ladd Square shortly after 6pm.
“It took some time to access the residents and get them to the waiting ambulance,” he said.
“Our crew then worked on trying to open up roads with the assistance of CFA late into the evening,” he said.
Ms Pratt said at the height of the storm the pager was not keeping up with the amount of calls going through.
“So on the first evening, we had about 175 callouts,” she said.
“They just kept coming through over into the night and the next 48 hours.”
By Wednesday morning on 14 February, Mr Owen said Emerald SES had back up with assistance from Victoria police, Ambulance Victoria, Yarra Ranges Council and Fire Rescue Victoria.
“All were assisting with assessing the impact on the area,” he said.
“It’s caused a lot of devastation and destruction around the area – as of 16 February on Friday, we’ve had over 380 jobs and requests for assistance that were attended to,” Ms Pratt said
“Mainly, it was trees that were basically snapped halfway up the trunk and thrown into buildings onto roads, or split, with the ferocity of that wind that came through,” she said.
A number of SES volunteers who had damage to their own properties and who were without power continued to respond to calls for assistance to support the community.
Victoria State Premier Jacinta Allan visited the SES Emerald unit on Friday 17 February and the VICSES CEO Greg Leach visited SES units in both greater Dandenong and Knox on Monday 19 February to thank the volunteers for their efforts.
Mr Leach said it was a pleasure to be able to drop into the Knox Unit and thank our volunteers first-hand.
“Many SES volunteers were responding to requests for assistance over several days, so we certainly appreciate their hard work and commitment along with our partner agencies,” he said.
Mr Owen said that special mention must go to those from Emerald SES and their families who assisted with the task of ensuring all responders had warm meals and drinks.
“Many of the items on offer came from kind donations from the community,” he said.
The SES have a number of resources available online for storm preparedness. Some easy tips to increase the safety of your property before a storm hits include keeping trees and branches away from your home, parking undercover, keeping gutters, downpipes and drains clean, securing outdoor furniture and trampolines and preparing an emergency kit.
During a storm, the community is advised to stay indoors and away from windows, avoid travel if possible and have essential supplies to last for at least three to five days, including food, drinking water, medications and pet food.
Monitor weather warnings and forecasts at the Bureau of Meteorology website, and warnings through the VicEmergency app, website and hotline (1800 226 226) and by listening to emergency broadcasters such as ABC local radio, designated commercial radio and TV news stations.
