By Callum Ludwig
Yarra Ranges residents were wary ahead of warnings for strong winds in the region in the early hours of the morning of Wednesday 28 August.
The Upper Yarra was one of the harder hit regions, with fallen trees the most common incident awoken to.
Ausnet has confirmed its Emergency Management Mobile Assistance (EMMA) vehicle and community engagement teams were deployed this morning to Monbulk, Belgrave, Emerald, Cockatoo, Gembrook, Hoddles Creek, Launching Place and Woori Yallock, and customers are welcome to chat to their team when they see the vehicle.
Upper Yarra SES Unit Controller Hannah Brunton said in the current weather event, they are mostly seeing trees down either over roads, over driveways or on houses.
“We have also seen quite a few calls come through for houses being damaged by flying debris, two that we have seen have been the roof of a neighbouring shed impacting a home, the other was a trampoline,” she said.
“We have seen a pretty even spread of requests coming in all across our area so spanning from Gentle Annie to Don Valley and McMahons Creek to Yellingbo, not really isolated to one area more than another so it really has been unpredictable for our crews.”
Strong winds of 100 to 110 kilometres an hour for more elevated parts of the state, including the Yarra and Dandenong Ranges were forecast with rain and more windy conditions predicted later in the week.
Ms Brunton said residents should plan ahead and plan for the worst, that way they are always covered.
“We have had a lot of rain over the weekend and a lot of wind in the past couple of days, even as the wind dies down it is important to remain vigilant because trees have been compromised and may still fall.,” she said.
“Definitely avoid driving while the weather is bad, make sure that any loose items in backyards are secured and be prepared for power outs by ensuring you have things like power banks charged, medications available and generators ready in case they are required.”
Ausnet is currently reporting a few power outages affecting households in the Upper Yarra:
322 households in Gladysdale, Yarra Junction, Hoddles Creek and Three Bridges are currently without power, with this outage first reported at 7.21pm on Tuesday and power expected to be restored by 5pm Wednesday, with construction already underway.
18 more households in Gladysdale and Three Bridges are affected by a separate outage which i under assessment, reported at 12.32am on Wednesday and expected to be restored by 4pm.
An outage in Warburton affecting 21 properties is also under investigation but has been currently delayed, first reported at 9.56pm on Tuesday.
Ausnet has confirmed it is ‘making good progress’ on outages, with more than 10,000 customers without power from 78 individual faults at the peak last night and anticipates having all those customers who were off supply overnight restored by 6pm Wednesday.
