By Jesse Graham
BADGER Weir, Donnelly’s Weir and Maroondah Reservoir Park will be off-limits to visitors through coming weeks, with Parks Victoria still working to clear debris after storms felled hundreds of trees.
Parks staff are working to clear the destruction left from the 9 October storm, which saw winds of up to 120km/h hit the region, felling trees, damaging property and knocking down powerlines.
Taking the Mail on a tour of Maroondah Reservoir Park and Badger Weir Picnic Ground on Wednesday, 26 October, Area Chief Ranger, Conrad Annal said 162 trees had fallen at Maroondah Reservoir alone.
Visiting the site, about 40 workers were moving and chainsawing tree trunks around the main car park, with huge tree stumps and their roots still tipped over near an information kiosk, with a streetlamp lying nearby reduced to a twisted heap of metal.
At Badger Weir, the landscape behind the picnic area was full of damaged and felled trees, and a public toilet, a picnic table area and old office building had been smashed by falling trees and debris.
Mr Annal pointed out areas where the road’s surface had been torn by nearby trees being uprooted.
He said said the crews were working to re-open the “ornamental” side of the Maroondah Reservoir, which included the dam wall and the area at its base, in coming weeks.
However, the area to the left of the park, around Henderson’s Loop, as well as Donnelly’s Weir and Badger Weir would remain closed for the time being.
“In addition to those areas, we’ve got a lot of walking tracks that have been blocked off,” he said.
“We’re almost there – we’ve almost completed our assessments of our walking track network, so we’ll have a better idea of the breadth of the damage, and the extent of the work we’ll need to do cleaning it up.
“Hopefully this (ornamental) side will be opened up in coming weeks – we’re currently doing a lot of planning around the other areas to open those up, ensuring we’re complying with all the relevant legislation to each park area.”
When asked whether the parks would be re-opened by Christmas, Mr Annal said the extent of the damage was still being assessed.
“That’s part of what we’re doing here today, is doing some thorough assessment on the risks to make sure the park is safe and can be opened safely for visitors,” he said.
He said areas at Maroondah Reservoir Park would be fenced off when the park did open, to stop visitors from potentially being injured.
For updates on the parks’ re-opening, visit parkweb.vic.gov.au.
