It was a busy night for first responders as wind gusts of close to 100km/h hit the Geelong and Barwon South West region on Monday.
VICSES crews in the Barwon South West region received more than 550 requests for assistance (RFAs) between 7pm on Sunday, September 1, and noon on Monday, September 2.
A spokesperson told the Independent that the RFAs featured close to 400 cases of fallen trees and 160 incidents of building damage due to the strong winds overnight.
In a press conference, Victorian Emergency Management commissioner Rick Nugent said damaging and locally destructive winds hit the state from 1am to 4am on Monday.
“An enormous amount of preparation readiness was put in place over the weekend in preparation for last night’s extreme weather event,” he said.
“Many of our volunteers and emergency service workers missed out on spending Father’s Day with loved ones, so I really thank them for their commitment, effort, and professionalism.
“It is clear to us that community did listen to messages over the past couple of days, they did head these messages, they took action, and many people weren’t on the roads at the high-risk period.”
VICSES volunteers have attended more than 1100 RFAs since 2pm on Tuesday, August 27, with close to 800 reports of trees down and 300 for building damage.
The South Barwon (138) and Corio (116) units have responded to more than 100 RFAs, with VICSES encouraging people to monitor the current weather situation at emergency.vic.gov.au/respond
