By TOM HAYES
WIND gusts topping well over 100 kilometres an hour have played havoc for Latrobe Valley residents.
The sheer ferocity of a storm which began more than seven days ago has led to widespread power outages, as emergency crews work overtime to clear fallen trees, branches and debris.
The first of the two severe weather events occurred overnight from Tuesday, August 27 to Wednesday, August 28, as winds swept past the Latrobe Valley and surrounding regions.
The second instance was again overnight from Sunday, September 1 to Monday, September 2, which saw Watch and Act warnings across the state, as wind speeds were anticipated up to 130km/h.
During the first event at the end of August, in Gippsland 112 call-outs were made to the SES between 2pm on August 27 and 9.30am on August 28, with most regarding fallen trees. Morwell had 22 call-outs and Moe had 17.
Ninety-seven callouts concerned fallen trees, while eight were for building damage in the region.
Trees remain to be cleaned up in the Latrobe Valley, as people woke to discover more blocked roads.
Tyers Road, between Tyers and Traralgon, was blocked momentarily while SES crews cleared the area.
More trees were spotted to have fallen in Hazelwood North, Yallourn North, Moe, Newborough, Morwell, Boolarra, and Toongabbie.
Many people in the region still remain without power due to the extent of the wind-caused outages. Power outages were seen in Traralgon and Morwell, where traffic lights went out of operation or were continually flashing. This was seen on the Princes Highway near Latrobe Regional Health and Princes Drive near Mid Valley.
The Great Moscow Circus, which had stopped in Traralgon at the time, across the road from the Traralgon Racecourse, had to pull down its major tent, with fears that the strong winds could have caused it to be unsafe.
Less than a week later, the second severe weather event had swept through the region.
Overnight from September 1 to 2, winds of up to 130km/h were expected in parts of the state.
Latrobe Valley, despite not being in any of the Watch and Act zones, still copped some of the force that swept the state.
Between 7pm on Sunday, September 1 and 12pm on Monday, September 2, VICSES volunteers were paged to almost 700 requests for assistance (RFA) in Gippsland, with Latrobe Valley among the region’s busiest.
The figures in Gippsland revealed more than 441 call-outs for fallen trees, and around 230 for building damage. Morwell had 185 RFAs, and Moe 96.
At a VicEmergency press conference on the morning of September 2, Bureau of Meteorology Senior Meteorologist, Kevin Parkyn stated that the Latrobe Valley suffered a 124km/h gust of wind – the region’s most powerful gust throughout the event, recorded at the Warragul Weather Station.
AusNet reported that around 162,000 Victorian customers were without power from 10pm on September 1.
As of 12pm on September 2, 100,000 Victorian customers were still off-supply.
AusNet reminded customers that due to the damage, restoration could take a number of days.
Impacts were discovered across the regional network after 86 incidents, with 12,147 Latrobe Valley customers losing power, with 407 of those being Life Support customers.
The top three impacted suburbs in the Latrobe Valley were Traralgon (3106 outages), Moe (1984), and Newborough (1637).
Traralgon and Moe were two of the towns receiving more focus across the state, deemed as two of the most affected areas.
A generator was planted in Mirboo North at 12pm on September 2, as well as two other Victorian locations, as AusNet assessed what towns might’ve needed generators throughout the day into September 3.
Gusty winds remained the forecast in the east of the state in the afternoon of September 2, and at the time of print it was expected to continue throughout the day.
As of 10.30am on September 3, 31,000 Victorian customers were still offline, with Gippsland the most impacted area with 23,000 customers offline.
Latrobe Valley had 6098 customers offline at this time, 3284 of which were from Newborough, 466 from Traralgon, and 342 from Boolarra.
AusNet’s EMMA vehicle was at Traralgon Library providing community support on the morning of September 3.
AusNet apologises for any inconveniences and assured the community they were hoping to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.
For estimated restoration times, visit: outagetracker.com.
To report new faults and emergencies, contact 13 17 99.
The Department of Transport also announced that V/Line trains were not operating between Southern Cross and Bairnsdale throughout September 2. However, a coach service was operating between Bairnsdale and East Pakenham, where passengers could then switch to Metro trains.
Several events that were scheduled to run on September 2 have been postponed due to power outages and weather conditions, such as the Mid Gippsland Football-Netball League Junior Vote Count, which has been pushed back by a week.
The SES has urged Victorians to take heed of community warnings via the VicEmergency app and/or the website, and if travelling, check VicTraffic for road closures.
During the VicEmergency press conference on September 2, Bureau of Meteorology Senior Meteorologist, Kevin Parkyn mentioned further weather projections for the week ahead.
On Wednesday, September 4, Victorians can expect another pick up in wind, according to Mr Parkyn, but the wind isn’t expected to be as bad as the September 2 event.
Also on Friday, September 6, the weather will begin to warm again, but is seen as a standard for spring time with the passage of a cold front.
Mr Parkyn mentioned that strong temperature contrasts have been a reason for poor weather.
ALSO in the early hours on September 2, at 1.30am, a grassfire sparked on Moe-Rawson Road in Moondarra, between Tyers and Erica.
“The fire burnt around four hectares and was brought under control at 3.10am,” a CFA spokesperson said.
“A Watch and Act warning was issued at 2.25am, asking residents in the area to stay close to a building and shelter.
“This warning was downgraded to an Advice message at 3.27am. The incident was declared safe just before 4am.
“CFA had 20 units on scene.”
