By TOM HAYES
TWO wind storms from late August and early September have hit the community hard, as winds of over 100km/h hit the Latrobe Valley on two separate occasions.
While fallen trees and power outages were frequent throughout the region, perhaps not many residents were affected more than Traralgon’s Maryanne Rouse.
Ms Rouse was awoken by a loud bang in the early hours of Monday, September 2, only to discover that her roof had been blown off in the wind.
“At around about quarter past three, I heard an almighty roar which woke me up,” Ms Rouse told the Express.
Once hearing the bang, still confused as to what caused the noise, Ms Rouse decided to start getting ready for work, without noticing the damage.
“I walked out through the dining room and into the kitchen and I went ‘why is the floor wet?’” she said.
Her immediate thoughts were: “I don’t think I have a roof”.
“I grabbed a little lamp because no lights would turn on, I looked at the fireplace – where the flue went up into the roof – and I went ‘oh, that’s gone, there’s a hole in the roof’.
“And there was just water pouring in… water was pouring out through all the light fittings… bedrooms, laundry, bathroom, the whole works.”
Walking around with her little lamp, Ms Rouse began to notice the full extent of the damage, which prompted a call to the State Emergency Service (SES).
When the SES arrived, they not only checked Ms Rouse’s property, but surrounding houses, which led to them finding the roof in a neighbour’s backyard.
It wasn’t until then that Ms Rouse realised that her roof had blown off.
With the winds still howling, there wasn’t much that the SES could do at the time due to the associated dangers. Ms Rouse had to let the wind take its course and hope that no more damage would arise from the severe weather.
“I just waited until daylight and just assessed what had been damaged in the house,” she said.
Floors and furniture had all been soaked from the rain that had spat through the ceiling through her “instant sky lights”.
The property belongs to Ms Rouse’s older brother, Peter Rouse, who lives on the family farm in Gormandale. Ms Rouse rents the property from him. She moved permanently to this residence in Traralgon from Mirboo North about seven or eight years ago.
While Mr Rouse deals with the home insurance, Ms Rouse herself has to deal with her own contents insurance – to which she believes about 99 per cent of her contents is damaged.
When building inspectors came to assess the damage on Wednesday, September 4, Ms Rouse was told not to be surprised if some rooms, including the bathroom, had to be completely ripped out due to the excessive water damage.
“They’re worried about any water getting down into the plaster, as the holes in the roof have exposed everything. And with all that constant rain we had on Sunday and Monday (September 1 and 2), he said there is going to be a lot of water through the walls,” Ms Rouse said.
Still waiting for a final report from insurers, Ms Rouse is yet to know what will need to be done, and how long it’ll take, for her to move back into her home. She is expecting to have to wait for up to six months.
Unbelievably, Ms Rouse was still keen to stay at the property, before she was reminded that she had no power, and the unknown water damage extent could’ve caused walls or the roof to collapse.
There is no temporary housing available to Ms Rouse through insurance, with it not a part of the insurance package, so Ms Rouse is currently staying with a friend in a spare bedroom on a short-term basis.
She said that she will need to find somewhere to live in the short-to-long-term, not wanting to overstay her welcome.
“Even the service apartments, that’s not a cheap option. That’s fully furnished, which would be perfect… because it’s not as if I can go and rent a place (with no furnishings) because I’ve got nothing to put in there,” Ms Rouse said.
“I’m at a standstill, my head is spinning.”
Ms Rouse, 57, lives alone for the most part, except for when another one of her brothers returns home from his Fly In, Fly Out job. She prefers it that way, preferring to be independent.
She is a stroke victim, who still suffers from nerve and muscle damage on the left side of her body, saying she personally showed similarities in her reactions for the two events.
“I’m just trying to stay positive… it was the same when I had my stroke,” she said.
