by Cam Lucadou-Wells
During an arduous clean-up after last week’s destructive storm, it took days to restore power and clear fallen trees throughout Greater Dandenong.
More than 20,000 customers in the region were without power after ferocious gusts wreaked havoc on Tuesday afternoon 13 February.
As of Thursday, several hundred remained off the grid with some estimated to wait as long as Sunday.
Meanwhile, Greater Dandenong SES depot was hit by the black-out as it responded to more than 280 requests for help – mainly to clear fallen trees on roads and buildings.
The unit swiftly swung into action, thanks to generators and manual back-up processes.
“This is the most severe weather I’ve seen in the past decade,” unit controller Michael Prior said.
The worst impacted were Dandenong North, Noble Park North and Springvale – including the corner of Stud Road and Monash Freeway as well as Springvale Road.
“A lot of traffic lights were out on Tuesday afternoon and night, which made it dangerous for our crews to respond.”
All 40 of the SES unit’s volunteers were on deck – some working up to 14-hour shifts. Even with the help of neighbouring SES units, it took two days to work through the mountain of jobs.
The unit has been bestowed with gratitude, including a hand-made card from a pre-school and several offers of food and coffee.
Greater Dandenong mayor Lana Formoso was among the trained volunteers clearing numerous trees with chainsaws.
She was in a crew of up to three that responded about 25 callouts.
“It was like a cyclone that came here. Everyone has been working around the clock, juggling other jobs and family.”
