Liam Durkin
IT happened in an instant.
Just five minutes is all it took to leave weeks, if not months of clean-up following significant storm action on Tuesday.
A storm more akin to a tornado ripped through Victoria on Tuesday afternoon, following a day where temperatures topped 40 degrees in some parts.
The damage left some areas in Gippsland resembling war zones, while wind gusts of up to 130 kilometres were enough to topple transmission lines feeding the state’s electricity.
While most of Sale was spared mass power outages, others were not so lucky.
Around half a million people across the state were left without power, and some are still waiting for electricity to be restored.
AusNet has been overwhelmed the last few days, but expects most customers to have power back on by tomorrow.
Locally, there was still more than 7000 AusNet customers in the Bairnsdale catchment without power as of yesterday morning.
The catchment takes in areas closer to Sale, including Meerlieu.
Compounding the issue has been cuts to communication, forcing people to find charging stations for their devices.
Tuesday’s catastrophic event was labelled “one of the largest outage events in the state’s history” by Energy Minister, Lily D’Ambrosio.
Loy Yang A was heavily affected, with all four units going down at 2.15pm on Tuesday.
The plant’s operator, AGL, had two units restored by Wednesday, and expected to have the remaining two online by yesterday.
“Following today’s tripping of transmission lines that led to the unplanned outage, work is underway to return units back to service,” the company said on Tuesday afternoon.
“This will take place over the next few hours in line with our safety and operational protocols, and as associated transmission line issues are resolved.”
Loy Yang A supplies around 30 per cent of the state’s power requirements.
The outage left the streets of nearby Traralgon in virtual darkness on Tuesday night, as emergency services worked frantically to direct traffic.
Further south, the hillside town of Mirboo North was arguably the most affected.
Roads in and out of town were closed as trees – and even the football goal posts at the recreation reserve – snapped in half like toothpicks.
One fatality, a 50-year-old farmer, has been recorded.
Victorian Farmers Federation President, Emma Germano, herself a Mirboo North resident, offered her condolences to the family, while also lashing out at the state government amid another natural disaster.
“On behalf of all Victorian farmers, the VFF extends its heartfelt condolences to the Mirboo North farmer sadly killed in (yesterday’s) wild weather. Our thoughts go out to the family and loved ones left to mourn after this tragedy,” she said.
“Farmers and regional Victorians remain stranded, powerless and in some cases burnt out almost a day after terrible fires and thunderstorms. The impact on our industry and regional communities is immense.
“Victoria is still feeling the impact of one of our largest ever power blackouts and the complete lack of planning and resilience by the government is once again crippling our state. We must do better.”
Sale MP Danny O’Brien was in Mirboo North on Wednesday, seeing first-hand the carnage within his electorate.
“I have spoken to the Premier’s office and highlighted the severity of the damage, including to multiple homes and community infrastructure,” he said.
“I’VE suggested manpower and heavy machinery will be needed for the clean-up, noting power and phones is the priority,” Member for Gippsland South, Danny O’Brien said after visiting Mirboo North.
“I’m also conscious of the need for clean up help, including green and hard waste removal, and raised this with the local government Minister who will raise it with her colleagues.
“There’s a huge workload ahead and much to do in the short term. But to say Mirboo North is supporting each other would be an understatement.
“Just amazing the amount of community-minded people helping friends and neighbours today as I moved around.
“Hang in there everyone,” the local MP urged.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Sale and Yarram on Tuesday at 5.15pm.
Earlier in the day, a bushfire in the Grampians was the prelude to what was to come.
“It all started with a warm night, the warmest night this summer,” meteorologist Kevin Parkyn from the Bureau of Meteorology explained.
“Very quickly, we saw some thunderstorm activity develop early morning (Tuesday) in our western border. Those storms tracked across the landscape through the Wimmera down towards the south-west and those storms resulted in a fair bit of lightning, producing the fire the fire agencies are now combating in and amongst the Grampians.
“But it didn’t stop there, we’ve seen prolific thunderstorm and lightning activity develop across the state … these storms are severe.
“It’s been hot – sizzling. We’ve seen 41.7 degrees at Walpeup, 41.4 at Hopetoun there up in the north-west of the state, incredibly, 41 degrees at Avalon ahead of the wind change, the temperature dropped by about 15 degrees in 15 minutes.
“This is a significant weather day for Victoria, prolific lightning generating fires, the storms are severe, producing damaging wind gusts and even reports of large hails, golf ball sized hail.”
