By KATH GANNAWAY
IN A cruel twist of fate, Upper Yarra was lashed with storms last week, just one day into VICSES’s annual StormSafe Week awareness campaign.
Upper Yarra SES volunteers attended to over 60 calls in what spokesman Russell Wulf has described as the worst damage he has seen inflicted in many years of responding to storms.
Millgrove bore the brunt of the damage as heavy rain and high winds toppled huge trees and lifted roofs throughout the valley from around 6pm on Monday night.
“It was like a tornado coming through the place and we’re really relieved that no-one got hurt.
“I don’t remember so many trees coming over in this valley, or this level of major damage to houses in this district,” Mr Wulf said.
“We had one tree come down and made multiple holes in the roof over a large area and crushed the verandah and another in Yarra Junction where the roof tiles had lifted off.
“Because of the extent of the damage, it wasn’t just a simple job of putting a tarp over and because of the number of jobs, we had to prioritise and just do a make-safe to keep people safe and comfortable in their houses.”
Mr Wulf said they had around a dozen SES volunteers out right through the night until 5am on Tuesday morning and back on the job around 8am until they signed off around 8pm that night.
“Our Monday crew were still going when I started the next morning and I’ve never, ever seen them so tired,” he said, adding that the event stretched their resources.
“It just kept going and going and going and the winds were phenomenal. We’re lucky it didn’t continue as predicted, because we were shot.”
Mr Wulf has appealed to residents to be prepared for storms by doing a check of their properties for things such as loose roofing iron or tiles and to be aware of weather forecasts and secure anything that could be thrown around by the wind.
For information on how to prepare your home and business for storms, visit the VICSES website ses.vic.gov.au/prepare.
