WILD winds battered thousands of Wyndham residents as power supplies were cut last week.
Powercor spokesman Damien Batey said Victoria was hit with winds of up 125 kilometres per hour on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“Melbourne’s West had some of the worst conditions,” he said.
“The storm moved from the South Australian border through areas such as Warnambool and moved in a north-easterly direction.
“By the time it reached the Western suburbs the wind speeds were high and it had picked up a lot dirt and pollution on the way and when that dirt gathers up on power poles it can lead to smouldering or in some case even pole fires.”
A pole fire in Ballan Rd cut electricity to 16 houses for more than two hours last Thursday morning.
“The wind blew a lot of vegetation like tree branches which brought a number of power lines down in the West,” Mr Batey said.
Werribee SES unit controller Laurie Russell said some houses were lucky to escape with minimal damage.
“There were a few tiles off roofs and a few trees down but nothing that caused any distress to anyone,” he said.
