Thursday,
16 January 2025
Storm cell rips through ‘Snow Road channel’

A WILD windstorm wreaked havoc along the south of the rural city on Wednesday afternoon as trees, structures and sheds full of hens toppled.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology’s Wangaratta Airport station, peak wind gusts of 59km/h were recorded and 4.2mm of rain fell between 12:30pm to 1pm, but much heavier conditions were felt elsewhere.

Wangaratta VICSES Unit controller Jess Zuber said crews responded to 16 requests for assistance from around 1pm to 6pm, with Oxley, Tarrawingee, Milawa and Markwood heavily affected.

“There were lots of tress down in that area and stretches of roads covered by them,” she said.

“Snow Road and Wangaratta-Whitfield Road were impacted and a lot of laneways.

“It was great to see a lot of the community was helping us out, everyone pitched in and we got the job done by the afternoon which was fantastic.”

Owner of Milawa Free Range Poultry Farm, Russell Mickle said he and his staff were just minding their business as they observed the weather system build up until a burst of wind hit.

“The rain was blowing up from the ground, that’s how hard the wind was going,” he said.

“One of our staff was in the paddock working close to one our sheds, and in the corner of his eye he could see one of the wheels lift off the ground and come back down.

“He finished what he was doing, turned around and the shed was gone.”

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The shed and its hens had t-flipped around 40 metres before coming to a rest on its side, while another shed was completely torn apart by the storm.

“It was lifted up and came down flat on its roof, the whole thing busted apart,” Mr Mickle said.

Mr Mickle said around 30 hens were killed, which could’ve been much worse considering the damage that was done to the sheds.

He said a vast majority of his hens were traumatised by the storm and he doesn’t expect them to start laying again for another two weeks.

“It’ll be a pain in the ass, but we’ve at least got them in housing at the moment and the next few days will be about which way we’re going to go with it all,” he said.

“We’re due to get more hens in shortly and some of the old ones might have to go, maybe we adjust which ones go if some of them don’t want to come back and lay again.”

He said the farm’s other 23 sheds received minor damage to their shade sails which would be easily repaired.

Mr Mickle said the staff will be forced to empty and re-fiil all of their sheds with feed after only just doing so earlier that morning.

“It’s all part of egg farming,” he said.

SES crews also attended to two road incidents, including a fatal collision at Bowmans Forest which killed an 80-year-old man.

Ms Zuber urged the community to be wary of loose branches and trees over the next few days which may have a heightened risk of falling.

“We went to a job in Milawa and a local rang us back that afternoon and said where we were parked away from a tree that hadn’t fallen had fallen later,” she said.

“Even though it wasn’t windy and the storm had passed we are still seeing limbs fall.”

The Wangaratta SES Unit will be hosting a recruitment information evening at its Handley Street headquarters from 7pm on January 21, looking to bolster its busy volunteer workforce.

You can find out more about volunteering with the SES via the link: https://www.ses.vic.gov.au/join-us/volunteer