Victoria SES spokesman Jamie Devenish has listed the Leongatha SES Unit, statewide, as one of the units to receive the most callouts as a result of Tuesday’s storm.
He said they had received 84 emergency calls yesterday and overnight, despite Telstra and power going down in the local area.
“Bairnsdale is another one with 62 calls but obviously that number is expected to rise as mobile coverage is restored,” Mr Devenish said on Wednesday morning.
“There are a lot of roads impacted. In the Gippsland area, the Mirboo North-Trafalgar Road and Tarra Valley Road are closed but there is still debris across a lot of roads.
“It’s been a busy 24 hours, First we had the fire emergency in the state’s west and the stormfront swept through the south eastern suburbs and into Gippsland.
“There have been over 3000 calls to SES, but we would expect that number to climb as phone coverage returns today. We would ask people to call SES on 132500 if they have an incident.”
The response of emergency services has reportedly been hampered when pagers went offline and also with fuel unavailable at petrol stations.
They’re issues that will be probed after the initial response to the storm damage.
The South Gippsland Shire Council’s outdoor crews have responded quickly to the emergency with crews on the ground, clearing roads and assisting in a variety of ways, from Tuesday afternoon.
The shire issued the following message on Facebook on Tuesday: “Wild winds have caused havoc across South Gippsland this afternoon. Council crews are currently out supporting local emergency services, but there is a lot of work to be done and many roads are still impacted by fallen trees and debris. If possible, please avoid any unnecessary travel tonight, and please stay safe.”
