WINDS which would not look out of place in current hit movie ‘Twisters’ swirled through Wangaratta on Monday morning, causing damage to property and electricity lines and leaving thousands of homes without power.
Peak gusts of 98km/h were recorded at the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) Wangaratta’s Airport weather station at 4:52am Monday, the highest recorded in Wangaratta for the month of September in 17 years and the strongest since 104km/h was recorded on January 2 this year.
From 4:50am to 5:30am, the station averaged gusts of around 86km/h.
The Wangaratta SES unit has now responded to more than 50 calls for assistance in the past two weeks, with the unit one of the top five busiest in the state following last Sunday’s storm of 20.2mm of rain and peak gusts of 65km/h.
Wangaratta SES unit controller Jess Zuber said of the 22 calls for assistance received by the unit from Monday morning, there were eight reports of building damage, with trees restricting access on roads and properties common throughout the region.
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“We’ve been all over the shop, most calls were within the CBD, we did go out to Milawa, Myrrhee and Whitfield but most of the building damage was local,” she said.
“The community was resilient again, most of the trees were on the outskirts of roads and a lot of those were moved by locals and council.
“It was a very coordinated effort.”
Ms Zuber said local units received assistance from Killawarra CFA along with Mansfield’s SES unit who assisted with the Wangaratta team with calls in Whitfield and Tolmie.
“Most of the property damage were external structures which had lost some tin or come loose, but no injuries thankfully,” she said.
The devastating winds saw some 4100 homes powerless for at least 12 hours on Monday and affected multiple homes south of the rural city from Moyhu to Winton, Glenrowan, Mount Bruno and Boweya.
After being reported to the AusNet outage tracker at 4:43am, properties were still waiting for power 12 hours later according to the outage tracker.
The outage site on Greta Road had power fully restored by Tuesday morning.
Gusts would eventually ease at 10pm Monday in the rural city which would carry on into Tuesday.
Victoria SES volunteers responded to more than 4400 requests for assistance across the state to 5:30pm Monday.
Ms Zuber said she appreciated the community’s patience as the unit received an abundance of calls during the peak of Monday’s winds.
“VICSES was completely inundated with calls in the morning and there were delays to get through, so thanks to those who persevered and eventually got through to us,” she said.
“It’s the best way to contact us (132 500), we did have a few rock up to the station and contact us through Facebook, but we need to do it through the right channels.”
BOM forecasts predict winds to return to the rural city on Friday with gusts of up to 50km/h predicted along with showers in the evening, into Saturday morning.
Ms Zuber said it was important for the community to continue to remain cautious when parking near trees and driving to the conditions.
“Be mindful of trees and winds, particularly around properties and driving because we just don’t know what’s dislodged or could come down in the future,” she said.
“The couple of days after last week’s storm we did see more trees fall so we can’t predict.”
Monitor weather warnings, forecasts and river levels at the Bureau of Meteorology website, and warnings through VicEmergency website/app/hotline.
You can report new power faults and emergencies online www.ausnetservices.com.au/outages/report-a-fault or on 13 17 99.
For emergency services, call the SES on 132 500.
