Hell on Earth

RECORD-BREAKING JUNE STORMS

ON JUNE 9 AND 10 2021, WILD STORMS HIT THE DANDENONG RANGES AND GIPPSLAND REGIONS, BRINGING FLOODS TO GIPPSLAND, DAMAGING THE YALLOURN POWER STATION, AND LEAVING MORE THAN 200,000 HOMES AND BUSINESSES WITHOUT POWER.

Media headlines in themselves told the story: terrifying storms isolate Victorian towns, Hills families ‘abandoned’ in devastation aftermath, wild weather lashes State, residents advised not to drink water, 56,000 homes without power, more than 1,000 without power for a month, township crippled in one night, police roadblocks, State government calls in the troops, towns without 000, massive financial hit to 1,200 businesses, the hills are alive with the sound of chainsaws, debris metres high, Victoria declares state energy emergency.

VICSES Emerald Controller Ben Owen said it was “an absolute miracle” no one died in the Dandenong Ranges storm. Some residents were barricaded in their streets with no capacity to call triple zero for days. “God knows how many people needed triple zero and couldn’t get through” he said.

Power cables lay twisted amongst trees that “fell from the sky”, power and mobile phones were down. Many residents trapped in their homes took 3 or 4 days to chainsaw enough clear space to get a car through. Community hubs were set up at Olinda, Lilydale, Yarra Junction, Belgrave, Healesville and Kalorama.

Olinda CFA captain Phil Skiller commented “I was sure we were going to lose crews. I’ve been to Black Saturday, I’ve been to Ash Wednesday. I’ve been doing this 40 years, and this was the scariest thing I’ve ever come across”.

The event was a record for SES, with over 9,600 requests for assistance (RFAs) in two weeks. More than 1,000 staff and volunteers were deployed from 127 active Units. There were 7,197 reports of trees down, 1,138 building damage, 292 flood, 201 rescue, and 196 assist other agencies. Many properties were completely destroyed; 129 were deemed uninhabitable. VICSES, CFA and the ADF delivered 200 generators to homes without power, as Ausnet confirmed there was “basically no (power) network left”, with fallen trees having destroyed the above-ground system.

Damaging winds also hit central Victoria, with gusts of up to 115km/h recorded at Puckapunyal. Dozens of trees were brought down in the wind, particularly in the Macedon Ranges and Kyneton. Falling trees and downed power lines left more than 30,000 people without power.

In Gippsland, 1,200 RFAs were received. People described it as “worse than a cyclone”. Widespread flooding damaged homes, leaving almost 200,000 homes without power.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued major flood warnings for the Avon, Latrobe, McAlister, and Thomson rivers in Gippsland as well as for Traralgon Creek. The Princes Highway and other major roads were closed, cut by floodwaters. An evacuation order was issued for Traralgon and an evacuation centre was set up in the basketball stadium. The SES rescued at least 12 people caught in floodwaters.