By Tyler Wright
The Hills were rocked by wild weather with locals unsure when power will be restored after damaging winds lashed the area on Tuesday 13 February.
Pakenham SES Unit deputy controller Shayne Honey said they responded to reports of a tree fallen onto a house on Ladd Road in Emerald with a number of occupants trapped inside, and to assist Emerald SES.
Upon arrival, three people had been able to get out of the house but two people were still trapped inside, Mr Honey said.
“Concerned gas was leaking through the home, the gas was isolated and crews removed an intact window, creating a doorway and were able to remove one of the trapped residents,“ he said.
“The second trapped resident was found laying in a hallway.
“After initial treatment from paramedics, SES crews used a specially designed mat and sling to extricate the male resident, some working on their knees to complete the difficult rescue.“
“Once out of the property the resident was treated again by paramedics, Mr Honey said.
It is believed a person was taken to Casey Hospital.
Earlier at 4.23pm, Mr Honey said, Pakenham SES Unit crews responded to a rescue in Narre Warren East, on the intersection of Wellington Road and Dorning Road, where a tree branch had fallen through a car and impaled into the driver’s leg, resting at the footwell of the car.
“Crews removed the back doors and roof of the vehicle to gain better access to the driver,“ he said.
“The branch was cut and the driver extricated from the car with the branch still impaled in his leg and transported to a Melbourne hospital via Air Ambulance.“
Emerald SES and a number of CFA brigades including Nar Nar Goon, Wandin, Monbulk and Narre Warren East also attended this event alongside Ambulance Victoria and police.
Ambulance Victoria confirmed a man in his 30s was airlifted to Royal Melbourne Hospital in a stable condition with a lower body injury.
Emerald resident Tracy Dasler described streets around her as a “war zone” in one of the “scariest days living up in the hills”.
“I was driving home when those storms hit Emerald,“ she said.
“There was debris flying everywhere, trees falling, powerlines coming down and pouring rain… it was so dark, I could hardly see. I just drove straight to an area that didn’t have as many trees there and put my hazards lights on and parked with two other tradies.. until it passed.. it was so scary!” she said.
“I was going to park outside a friend’s house, but decided to keep going as there were too many big trees around. Thank goodness I didn’t as they had a tree fall right where I was going to park.”
Ms Dasler said once the storm had stopped, local tradies started to chop the trees up to clear the road.
In Majestic Drive alone, there were about six large trees down and a car under one of them, Ms Dasler said, with cars and a truck damaged after a fallen tree hit one of her sheds.
“A lady couldn’t get out of her house as a tree fell, but did somehow later on. Police checked on her and was okay.
“Another lady’s car was trapped under a tree that had fallen also, she was okay also.
“It was so good to see the locals come together to help where ever they could to clear the trees off the roads.”
The impacts were also felt in Selby.
A tree lost its top and smashed Kathie Thomas’s pergola, with the property losing big branches.
“But, at that time, didn’t realise the damage in the street,“ Ms Thomas said.
“Then the power went out. Later we found out it wasn’t just here in Selby, but all over the state people had lost power.
“It was the following day we learnt about the Power Station [Loy Yang A] and what had happened there. No access to news, phones working intermittently, and we were careful with what we had powered up.“
Using a generator since, the clean up, expected to be lengthy, has begun on her property with the effects of the storm felt in the street.
“A neighbour has lost half their roof, we heard another house had a tree go through it. We’re all without power and not being on mains water, means if we have no power, we have no water,“ Ms Thomas said.
“Not everyone has a generator or solar power so some have had to go elsewhere to stay for a couple of days, especially if they have families at home with them.
“Temple Road is blocked and maybe for a few days. Fallen trees, snapped and fallen power poles, power lines all over the road – it’s a no through road for sure now. People were trying to get their kids to Belgrave South Primary on the 14th – they had to turn around and go back.“
She said the council came to place road closure signs at both ends of Temple Road.
“So many come from Belgrave-Gembrook and use Maskells Hill and Temple Roads as shortcuts to Belgrave-Hallam in Belgrave South.
“Petrol stations were out all over the place – it was hard to find petrol for generators unless you went to Narre Warren or beyond Ferntree Gully. But then the traffic lights were out too, main roads were bedlam.“
With the team working to remove the trees, cut them up and mulch into the early hours of Thursday, AusNet staff also assessed what lines and poles need replacing, Ms Thomas said.
“They’re doing amazing work and hopefully we will have power again soon.“
A State Emergency Service (SES) spokesperson said the SES received approximately 4000 requests for assistance since 9am on 13 February.
The Emerald area received approximately 280 requests for volunteer assistance.
“The suburb of Emerald received approx. 70 call outs, Cockatoo received approx. 30 calls, Gembrook approx. 15 and Menzies Creek approx. 10 requests,“ the spokesperson said.
“The SES has received approx. 600 calls for assistance relating to property damage across the state.“
There were still reports of damage to buildings and trees down in the Cockatoo, Emerald and Clematis area on Thursday 15 February, with 43,000 AusNet customers still without power.
Even Puffing Billy’s locomotive got stuck at Emerald Lake, with passengers needing to be bussed back to Belgrave to get home.
Emerald Village Bakery and Cafe owner Natalie Granieri said her business suffered a loss of “thousands of dollars” due to the power outage, with the store flooded.
Staff set up a portable van outside the shop on Tuesday to sell coffees and Valentine’s Day cookies.
“[We’re] just trying to get coffees out to people; most people don’t even have money because it’s all on card, so everyone’s just going to owe the bakery next time they’re in,“ Ms Ganieri
“At the moment, we’re throwing out all our food into the dump masters anyway, but we can at least make coffees so we’re not throwing out milk.
“If [people] can pay or not, I think they’re just being grateful for that, and we’ve made love heart Valentine’s Day cookies for everyone today; we made them all yesterday before the power went out.“
Unsure of when the power would come back on Ms Ganieri called the outage a “nightmare“ for the business.
“All the food’s been thrown out, and most of the cooks are not here, so it’s a massive impact,“ she said.
“There’s 48 staff here; we’re just down to five people here today.
“You lose so much trade.“
In Cockatoo at Alma Treloar Reserve, Cardinia Shire Council had set up a relief centre, with Emergency Support Team punter Andrew McLean on hand to help.
“The lack of power for everyone is the big thing and mobile signal is the killer thing,“ Mr McLean said.
“But other simple things like knowing whether or not there’s a petrol station open to fill your generator up.. I went down to the Shell servo near Fountain Gate to get petrol this morning, but I understand Pakenham’s got power.
“There’s a lady here who would like to fill the generator, but she’s trapped in the house because the power lines are down. So there are people in that circumstance too, a few that were in the house for a few days, and it’s going to take so long [for power to come back on].“
Mr McLean described the storm event as “monsoonal“.
“It didn’t last long, 15 minutes, but it absolutely hammered us,“ he said.
“You can see the trees blowing and branches coming down; we’re lucky and the neighbours seem to be lucky with no structural damage or anything, but a lot of branches down.“
He is worried it will be the “final straw“ for locals who have been in the area for years, depending on how insurance companies react.
“That’s going to be a big thing; you’ve got a hole in your roof and you need it fixed,If you’re in a long queue, that’s going to be a terrible existence.“
Senior Sergeant Brendan Michael from Pakenham police station has been feeding information from Emerald SES to the regional control centre.
“Lots of trees down, power lines down across the road, so we’ll be pushing that back to try and get support,“ Sgt Michael said.
“Unfortunately the entire state suffered in some way so that’s going to be a long time.
“The biggest thing is the trees down, clearing roads, there’s really a reminder to the community just to watch on the roads; there’s lots of debris and there’s still trees that are still protruding out partially into some of the lanes.“
Sgt Michael urged people to take care on the roads.
“They’re still slippery, quite treacherous. But we will be maintaining a presence so we’ll make sure that we’ve got police in the area driving around, being visible, and being available for providing assistance.“
At this stage a number of road closures and detours are in place but Star Mail is still gaining confirmation on specific ones.
An AusNet spokesperson said field crews have restored power to 29,000 customers since 12.30pm on Thursday 15 February, with the majority of customers expected to be reconnected by Saturday evening.
“A small number of customers in our hardest hit areas are likely to be without power heading into next week,“ the spokesperson said.
“500 field crews and 3 helicopters continued work today in response to over 700 incidents. We will have equivalent crews available for tomorrow’s restoration works.
“Customers are continuing to receive SMS messages advising of their restoration times.“
Telstra said on Thursday 15 February teams on the ground are continuing the important work of restoring services following this week’s severe storms.
“Currently, there are 96 mobile sites disrupted, and over 5200 landline services disrupted,“ the telco said on its website.
“Overnight we have restored an additional 60 mobile sites.
“Teams continue to work on refuelling generators in areas where mains power is still disrupted. We’re working with power authorities and other emergency services agencies to access and restore power to these sites on a more permanent basis.“
Those in immediate danger are advised to call 000.
The SES can be contacted on 13 25 00.
