THE Wimmera was hit with wild winds and heavy rains on Tuesday, causing a number of hazards across the region.
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The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning for the entire region. At 2.45pm, there were 42 VicEmergency service alerts in the Wimmera.
Mid-West Grampians State Emergency Service duty officer Grant Bradshaw said about 90 incidents occurred across the region during Tuesday’s storms.
“We had around around 90 requests for assistance form about 1pm onwards,” he said.
“That was when that cold front came through and there were 100km/h winds sweeping through the region. A line of strong wind just went down the across the Wimmera.
“Dunkeld SES unit is usually pretty quiet, but they had four call-out jobs. Same with Minyip and Rupanyup.
“By far most of the jobs were trees down and traffic hazards.”
He thanked SES volunteers on their efforts during the storms.
“These communities are so resilient and the volunteers would have been helping out during working hours and well into the evening,” he said.
Mr Bradshaw encouraged residents to report all incidents, even if they didn’t need assistance.
“They can report damage on 132 500; it just allows us to put in the system to help with future events,” he said.
“It’s also important that people are wary that a lot of the trees could be possibly unstable from the winds, so when we get that next front coming through they might been loose in the roots.”
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Michael Efron said a strong front moved through the Wimmera on Tuesday, bringing with it winds of more than 110km/h.
“Horsham had 110km/h winds come through in the afternoon 2.10pm, and there were similar instances at Nhill which recorded 102km/h,” he said.
“There were some rumours that there was a tornado at Serviceton, but we have no evidence in our data that that happened.
“In terms of rain, there was a lot that fell very quickly, so we didn’t see those large totals. Horsham only received 3mm for instance and the rest of the Wimmera received between 1mm and 5mm.”
He said the region could expect another front coming through on Thursday, however it wouldn’t be as harsh.
“Very low temperatures can be expected and periods of heavy rain, probably between 5mm and 10mm across the district,” he said.
“There will be some damaging winds again, but not as intense.
“We have issued a severe weather warning for the Grampians and southern parts of the Wimmera.”
Stawell SES unit controller Alan Blight said his unit oversaw many incidents during the wild weather event.
“It started off from Glenorchy, there were lots of trees and one roof lifted off,” he said.
“We finished late in the afternoon. There were lots of trees down and traffic hazards.”
Power outages were also common across the region, with PowerCor attending incidents in Nhill, Serviceton, Brim and Beulah among others.
A powerline went down across the Wimmera Highway between Murtoa and Rupanyup, blocking traffic for many hours.
Kaniva Police Senior Constable Adrian Hoggett said the town experienced multiple incidents.
“There was also a small road closure for half an hour on Dinyarrak Road. A tree was down on the main street, but state emergency services responded to that quickly,” he said.
“A house had roof damage on Dinyarrak Road, and SES and council services responded quickly to the damage.”
For Deep Lead resident Kellie Harris, the storms had a devastating affect.
Ms Harris was in Ballarat during the storms when she got a call from a neighbour.
“They said that my aviary was in their front yard,” she said.
“Somehow, the winds were strong enough to lift this half-a-tonne aviary, throw it through their fence and into their paddock.”
Ms Harris said her birds all escaped during the incident.
“I had 10 birds in there, worth about $8000,” she said.
‘It’s devastating and I am asking people to keep an eye out for them. People can contact the Stawell Police Station if they find them. They were all princess parrots, including some turquoise-fronted amazons.”
She said she would need to get a crane in to lift the aviary back to her backyard.
“I’m at a loss as to how it happened, the winds must have been coming in at a strange angle,” she said.
There was a close call at Burrum Biodynamics when a large tree fell down, narrowly missing a chicken coop.
Burrum Biodynamics’ Tania Walter said one worker, Noel Supple, witnessed the tree snap with a loud crack.
“Two large branches luckily landed away from the nearby chook shed, dog kennels, water trough and another standing buloke,” she said.
“It was a perfect landing only six metres away from the woodshed.
“It will make restocking the woodshed pretty convenient next year.”
The wind also moved the water tank at Burrum Biodynamics 30cm over the edge of the stand.
“The connecting pipe burst at ground level,” Ms Walter said.
A number of trees also fell on sheds at Dimboola Recreation Reserve causing significant damage.
Stawell Primary School office manager Chelsea Maddocks said the wild weather had caused damage to the school’s shade sails.