Wild winds wreak havoc

WINDS of almost 100 kilometres per hour swept through South Barwon, triggering more than 200 requests for assistance in the region within 24 hours.

In the 24-hours after the wild weather first hit the region last Thursday afternoon (August 27), South Barwon State Emergency Services (SES) units received 228 requests for assistance, 179 of which were for trees down.

A VICSES spokesperson said the Surf Coast and Bellarine were among the areas affected the most from the winds.

“The main areas hit were the Bellarine, Colac and Torquay. There were 52 requests for assistance in the Bellarine, 41 in Colac and 39 in Torquay.”

South West Region Community Resilience Coordinator Melanie Gill said the damage was still more significant than the numbers suggest.

“While there were about 40 requests for assistance in Torquay, many were for multiple trees down,” she said.

“Hendy Main Road and Duffields Road were pretty much covered in downed trees.”

The VICSES Torquay Unit received support from the Torquay, Connewarre, Anglesea and Bellbrae Fire Brigades from VICSES South Barwon Unit members. They still were only able to finish their duties at 2:30am on Friday.

By 8:30am on Friday VICSES reported their units had been able to clear 80 per cent of the 2,100 requests for assistance.

The same Thursday the storms hit the region the Bureau of Meteorology released its Spring Outlook.

The Bureau’s manager of Climate Operations Dr Andrew Watkin said much of Australia will likely experience higher than average rainfall in the coming months.

“Most long-range forecasts analysed by the Bureau, including from our own climate model, are indicating a La Niña could develop in the spring, which typically results in above-average winter-spring rainfall for Australia, particularly across eastern, central and northern regions,” Dr Watkin said.

“A La Niña also typically brings cooler and cloudier days, more tropical cyclones, and an earlier onset of the first rains of the northern wet season.”

However, the outlook did also note Victoria was likely to experience higher than average temperatures through to mid-September.

The bureau’s preliminary winter summary suggests Victoria may experience its driest winter since 2006.

VICSES is also warning people to be particularly cautious while driving in the coming weeks, as trees will be more susceptible to falling due to recent damage.