By Taylah Eastwell
As dawn broke on Thursday morning, many across the Hills awoke to mass carnage and destruction on their doorstep.
For others, the nightmare continues.
But while houses have collapsed and many suffer loss, the heart and compassion of the local community holds strong.
Since Thursday, social media has been flooded with people offering assistance.
In Cockatoo, a man has dragged his washing machine out onto his front lawn for community use.
Dave Key set up his personal washing machine at the edge of his Woodlands Ave driveway, next to a table, to allow those without power to wash their clothes.
“It’s my personal household one I’ve removed from the laundry and rejigged to run off a garden hose and generator lead,” Mr Key said.
“We are all stuck in this situation together so we all come together as a community to help each other out,” he said.
Mr Key said if power outages continue, he will get his mobile coolroom running to allow people to refrigerate things they need.
The Emerald and Cockatoo Community Support Team, a group entirely run by volunteers, have helped set up community drop in services through advocating to Cardinia Shire Council.
Group member Rachelle Mechielsen described the group as “the locals who help the locals”.
“We come in after the first responders have made an area safe and provide recovery and relief support,” Ms Mechielson said.
The group has been delivering urgent groceries, generator fuel and pharmacy scripts to locals, and has been collecting information and conveying it back to council in order to get “fast, effective” services up and running.
The group has helped establish Emerald Hills Hub as a drop in point for free post-storm mental health counselling. Device charging, tea, coffee and a microwave are also on offer, with the volunteers seeing about “100 people each day” accessing the services.
The Cockatoo Community Complex is also open for showers from 9.30am until 4pm.
Anyone in need of assistance or wishing to volunteer can contact the Emerald and Cockatoo Community Support Team on Facebook or at CockatooEST@outlook.com.
Emerald Woolworths kindly donated a trolley full of groceries to provide Emerald SES members with a warm meal between jobs.
Unit controller Ben Owen said “the crew was amazed with the kind generosity” it had received, with a “random person” also paying for fuel for the SES truck at a servo and a number of cakes and coffees also being handed to members over the last week.
Kalorama fire station opened its doors to displaced locals during Wednesday nights storm, with many seeking refuge overnight at the station while crew members attended hundreds of callouts. The Salvation Army offered hot meals at the CFA station on Sunday and Monday to mountain residents who remain without power.
Cockatoo CFA opened their doors to provide hot water, an oven, power points, heating and drinking water.
A Facebook group called Yarra Ranges Storm Support has also been set up, with offers to help with tree removal and labour flooding in.
Local residents have also taken to community noticeboards with offers to open their homes to complete strangers for warm showers, short-term accommodation, use of power and a listening ear.
At the base of the mountain, Montrose CFA are also overwhelmed by the generosity of the local community.
“We actually had two young girls come up to the fire brigade with their parents yesterday (13 June) and drop off some morning tea to us. They saved up their pocket money and wanted to give back and I think that’s just absolutely beautiful and just very special,” Montrose CFA captain Rob Waters said.
“We’ve seen very generous offers from the community, some beautiful messages that we’ve had on our Facebook and social media pages and also private messages, emails. We live in an absolutely astounding community and not only in bushfire season when people care but major events when someone is challenged, our community just gets up and rallies around and looks after our neighbours,” Mr Waters said.
“Just the little things as simple as throwing an extension lead over the fence for a neighbour to use a generator. Offering up hot water and showers and all that sort of stuff, I think that’s amazing community spirit and it’s great resilience for people who are helping others as well, that’s the best way to recover, is supporting one another,” he said.
