General News
14 September, 2023
Winds cause damage and outages
STRONG winds hit Camperdown last Friday, blowing down trees, knocking out power, and causing loose items in yards to go flying.
STRONG winds hit Camperdown last Friday, blowing down trees, knocking out power, and causing loose items in yards to go flying.
Winds of up to 110 km/h lashed the region on Friday, with trampolines launching into other people’s yards and an exercise ball bouncing across the highway.
Of the 1356 calls made to the Victorian State Emergency Service (VICSES) on Friday and the days after, 679 calls came from Camperdown and the surrounding areas.
Many of these calls were for fallen trees on roads and properties, totaling 342, and building damage, with 318 calls made.
Powercor responded to over 55,000 calls of power outages, many of which were caused by fallen trees, branches and damage to the power network.
Power was lost in some parts of Camperdown, Derrinallum and Lismore, forcing businesses to close.
Sarah Venn said one of her neighbours was one of many who lost power during the weather event, with the powerline falling over Ms Venn’s driveway.
“A powerline from the power pole to the next-door lady’s house was across our driveway when I left to go to work on Friday,” she said.
“It’s come down because there was a small gumtree branch had just fallen on it in the wind and snapped it very close to her house.
“It was across our driveway in the morning, and we weren’t entirely sure if we should drive over it.
“My brother in law works for Powercor, and we rang him and had a chat and was right to go. Then they came back about half past six on my way home and they hooked it back up to the lady’s house next door. “
Ms Venn said she hardly would have seen it.
“It was only that the front gate had blown shut in the wind, so I had to get out and open that. In the rain. And put the bins out,” she said.
“And I saw the powerline too.
“At lunchtime I had a phone call from another neighbour of ours that our trampoline had blown over.
“There were lots of things happening in our street.”
