RESIDENTS in the Pakenham and Berwick districts bore the full brunt of howling winds that whipped the state on Sunday.
Trees crashed down on powerlines, blacking out electricity in many areas and emergency service crews were kept busy for hours clearing up after the storms.
Pakenham SES spokesman Michael Bates said the unit received 50 calls for help during the strong winds.
“The first job was received at about 9am on Sunday and the peak period was between midday and about 8.30pm,” Mr Bates said.
SES crews worked until the early hours of Monday morning.
“Most of the calls were for trees having fallen on the road while others were for damage to buildings,” he said.
“The majority of the calls came from Berwick, Officer and Pakenham.”
The SES was also called to a further four jobs on Monday.
Trees across powerlines also kept power company workers busy and saw many householders go without power for several hours.
Residents in some areas around Pakenham Upper were without electricity all night.
SP AusNet spokeswoman Louisa Graham said the power company received more than 100 reports of outages caused by trees crashing into powerlines in the Pakenham area.
“Crews were able to repair and restore most of the power that night, there were some instances of severe damage, resulting in power being off until the next morning,” Ms Graham said.
“We thank these residents for their patience as crews worked through the night to undertake major construction works repairing the storm damage.”
The construction works included the replacement of power poles and powerlines damaged by the large number of toppling trees.
The high winds also brought down powerlines in Huxtable Road, requiring intensive construction works to fix the damage.
“The events on Sunday are further evidence of just how widespread the effects of the current drought can be,” Ms Graham said.
“The lack of moisture in the soil weakens the root system, making trees more vulnerable to high winds — and, unfortunately, as we have seen over the weekend, bringing down many more trees onto powerlines than in a normal storm situation.”
Residents are encouraged to report any electricity hazards they see to SP AusNet’s faults hotline 131 799.
Paul Dunlop
