By Parker McKenzie
Victoria’s State Emergency Services (SES) are continuing to respond to hundreds of calls for help including power outages, fallen trees, and building damage across Melbourne’s South-East after a storm and wild winds hit on Friday 29 October.
Shaun Caulfield from Lilydale SES said the damage was still nowhere near as extensive as the June storms.
Mr Caulfield said as the weather calms the SES will respond to as many jobs as they can before the expected next wave of bad weather comes through.
“Emerald has got a few jobs on their plate so we might go give them a hand later today as long as everything is made safe here,” he said.
In the past 24 hours SES has received extensive requests for assistance in the Yarra Ranges area, with Emerald SES receiving over 40 requests by 9.30am on 29 October.
One request for assistance involved a person trapped in a house when a tree down blocked their driveway and front door in Lilydale.
Emergency services also attended the scene where a tree fell on a car at the bottom of Priestley Crescent in Mount Evelyn, but thankfully no one was hurt in the accident.
The storm hit at around 4am, with most residents on the energy network losing power between 6am and 8am with a total of 141,000 homes affected by power outages.
More requests for assistance are expected as the damage is surveyed, and SES have had 1638 requests from across the state.
Ausnet has cancelled all planned works to focus on restoring power and clearing faults while urging people to take care of power lines that have fallen as they are likely still dangerous.
