SES beats the deluge

By Casey Neill

The Greater Dandenong SES received only 30 callouts during Victoria’s extreme weather weekend.
The rain and storms predicted for the state from Friday 1 to Sunday 3 December were not as severe as first thought.
Greater Dandenong SES unit controller Shane Bolton said the absence of wind with the rain significantly reduced the damage inflicted.
“It resulted for us as moderate,” he said.
“We were fortunate.
“We were able to cope quite well.
“We did have our three crews operating for most of the weekend.”
His crews responded mainly to leaking roofs and collapsed ceilings, and turned out to some flooding reports.
“We’re still doing work now,” Mr Bolton said on Monday morning.
“There’s a couple of jobs that we’re doing now, which are still dribbling through.”
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Cranbourne Botanic Gardens weather station recorded 7.2 millimetres of rain on Friday, 41mm on Saturday and 28mm on Sunday.
Vic Emergency issued a minor flood warning for Dandenong Creek, reporting that the catchment received about 37mm of rain on Saturday.