It took only 10 minutes or so of extraordinary storm violence to send the Dandenongs spinning from the 21st Century back to the 1900s. No internet, no phone connection and no power.
When the high-fire-danger alert of Tuesday 13 February turned to a storm alert, few were prepared for what was about to unfold.
I certainly wasn’t. As darkness descended and my internet connection failed at home, I drove to Monbulk to finish off my work-from-home shift as editorial coordinator with Star News.
I had only just logged on again when the wildest winds imaginable whipped up for five, maybe 10 minutes, followed by torrential rain, crashing thunder and lightning. My wife phoned – that connection had yet to fail – to tell me that all power was off at home and that she needed me straight away.
After a few failed attempts, I managed to phone work to say I was out of action then drove home, my four-minute drive turning into a 20-minute one as I stopped, time and time again, to drag tree limbs off David Hill Road and Rankins Road; once with four other drivers for a particularly big one.
After firing up our portable generator to get the fridge going at least, I realised that we were probably low on fuel and that I needed an extension cord or two. Sure enough, all I could find were two mostly empty jerry cans. I nipped back to Monbulk, this time along Emerald-Monbulk Road, which was covered with debris but manageable, to find that the Monny servo was closed and Murphy’s Mitre 10 was locked up. In fact, all of Monbulk seemed out of action, apart from Woolies, with its trusty generator.
I aimed for Emerald and its Co-op Mitre 10. The Emerald-Monbulk Road was a mess, with ominously big trees down into properties in one particularly bad stretch between Glenvista Avenue and Lakeside Drive. I didn’t get through and was diverted down small dirt roads back towards Monbulk. I at least managed to get food from a still-open chicken shop there, selling off the last of its already cooked food.
An hour or so later, I hit the road again to try to find fuel in Emerald. This time I got through. That stretch towards Lakeside Drive and the curve near the location of the old Choo-Choos restaurant looked like a war zone.
Phone and power lines were down, some draped across the bitumen, and several telegraph poles were snapped. I finally reached Emerald to find… no petrol and a township in a bit of shock. People were out, swapping stories and helping the SES workers, who were out in numbers. I tried to phone home. No signal any more. No internet on my phone either.
OK, make for Tecoma, I thought. I got as far as Grantulla Road before hitting a road-closed sign. Turning up Grantulla, I drove past Hermons Saddle Reserve. I was transported back to the scenes of 9 June 2021, with fallen trees everywhere. I went the long way through Sherbrooke Forest to Belgrave and beyond. Tecoma’s servo was closed… so was Upwey’s. So, I made the decision to descend the Mad Mile to Ferntree Gully. I noticed that I hadn’t seen a traffic light so, sure enough, all the Gully’s servos were closed due to lack of power.
I then saw the Dorset Road lights were working so, encouraged, I kept on going. No luck. Before I knew it, I was beyond Mountain Gate. I gave up the search when I got as far as Knox City to find that even the big one on the corner of Stud Road was in darkness. I had driven more than 50km for nothing.
On the way home, SES workers were on their massive clean-up task. They, and residents, held stop signs, slow-down signs and diversion orders. I went up roads that I barely knew existed in 35 years of living in the Dandenongs.
I never did fill those jerry cans on the 13th but my generator managed to limp into the next day. I got fuel and solved my extension cord issue that day but, as I write, we still have no power and AusNet don’t expect us to have some for a few days yet.
For the Hills community, it is all too much to bear after the horror of the 9 June storm. Emerald and Cockatoo have drop-in crisis centres and the memories have come flooding back for many. This storm wasn’t as damaging as the 2021 event but try telling that to people who have had their properties and vehicles damaged.
I love my hills but Mother Nature sure makes it hard to live here at times. To think we started that day on fire alert with revolting heat and high winds. The last thing we expected was a 9 June replay in torrential rain.
