Fires erupt
Firefighters have battled separate blazes on the same day west of Geelong.
Emergency services said fire fighters first attended a mulch fire at Winchelsea before battling a grassfire at Lethbridge hours later on Tuesday.
Gas leaks
A natural gas leak has forced emergency services to evacuate businesses at Belmont.
Emergency crews rushed to the leak site at the intersection of Mt Pleasant Rd and High St on Wednesday after an underground main ruptured.
Storm rages
A freak storm has battered a narrow band of Geelong, blowing over trees and damaging properties with hail and gale-force winds.
The CFA said Sunday’s storm ripped a path from Herne Hill to the city’s waterfront as crews rushed to evacuate guests from a wedding in a function centre at the end of Cunningham Pier.
Lane renamed
City Hall has renamed the western end of central Geelong’s Wesley Place in honour of William Goodall Hearne, who developed Hearne’s Bronchitis Mixture while living on the laneway.
The new Goodall Lane name would also help alleviate confusion from the laneway’s “disjointed nature”, City Hall said.
Golfers donate
13th Beach’s Vic Open golf pro-am has raised over $42,000 for a charity assisting children with cancer, tournament organisers have announced.
Challenge chief Dave Rogers said the charity was “thrilled to be one of the biggest beneficiaries from the growth of the Oates Vic Open”.
Bypass sale
A Drysdale bypass is a step closer after Geelong’s council agreed to sell two parcels of land to make way for the project.
The $1.9 million sale would allow the bypass access to the northern and of Peninsula Drive while also providing for an intersection at Whitcombes Rd, council said.
Educate ‘hazard’
Adopting New Zealand’s education program for foreign drivers could alleviate the Great Ocean Road’s “greatest hazard”, state parliament has heard.
The Victorian Government had a responsibility to educated holders of international licences, who were involved in 21 per cent of crashes on the road, MP Simon Ramsay said.
Stages flood-proof
Earthworks have helped five more estate stages escape flood zonings in Geelong’s Armstrong Creek growth area, City Hall has announced.
The works meant that the road networks in the Armstrong Waters, Ashbury and Villawood stages would hold excess water from any “100-year-flood event”, City Hall said.
