By Mitchell Clarke
Local SES volunteers were swept off their feet with calls for help during a wild weather event which lashed the eastern suburbs yesterday.
As of 9am, teams in Emerald and Pakenham had responded to more than 220 calls since 5pm on Thursday 27 August, with more calls expected as people wake up and survey the damage.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning on Thursday, advising that parts of the state could see winds averaging up to 70km/h.
Emerald SES unit controller Ben Owen said numerous homes would need to be rebuilt after wild winds toppled trees.
He said volunteers needed to carry people out of their gutted homes on two occasions and were also required to retrieve trapped people inside their property.
“We’ve absolutely seen significant damage caused to some houses … I’ve seen half a dozen houses that will need to be rebuilt,” he said.
“We’ll need to assess the 30 to 40 building damage calls we’ve received. Right now, we’re helping to get clothes and essentials for people out of the homes which have been destroyed.”
Mr Owen said the phones began ringing at 6pm on Thursday night and as of Friday morning, were still buzzing every minute.
He said a team of about 20 volunteers had responded to incidents in Emerald, Cockatoo, Gembrook, Ferny Creek and Macclesfield.
Cockatoo and Belgrave were the worst hit areas, according to Mr Owen, who urged people to be patient when waiting for assistance.
“Rest assured the volunteers are working their hardest and we’ll have other units come to the area to assist,” he said.
“You might not have power, but some people don’t have power or their house. The power company and the SES are doing the best they can.”
On Friday morning, AusNet had reported power outages to more than 1100 customers in Emerald, 1369 in Cockatoo, 358 in Avonsleigh, 97 in Modella, 67 in Garfield and 26 in Pakenham.
Emerald’s Covid-19 screening clinic was also forced to close on Friday due to power outages.
