By Ann Marie Angebrandt
WINDS of up to 100 kilometres-an-hour whipped through Wyndham last Tuesday bringing down trees, power lines and damaging roofs.
The storm resulted in dozens of emergency volunteers from across the West working throughout the night and into the following day clearing up.
Werribee’s State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers received more than 100 calls.
The service was jammed with about a call a minute from 9.30 until 10.35 pm, Werribee controller Laurie Russell said.
“It was easily the busiest night we’ve had for many years,” he said.
Volunteers from Keilor, Broadmeadows and Altona joined the 33 members at Werribee to secure storm-damaged roofs and buildings, and fallen trees and power lines.
No reports of injuries were recorded.
The worst-hit areas were Wyndhamvale, Hoppers Crossing and central Werribee.
One house in Gibbons St, Werribee, sustained serious structural damage after branches from a massive tree fell across the roof.
Much of Wyndham also lost power at the height of the storm, adding further risks to rescue missions.
“We weren’t sure if we were dealing with live power lines in some cases,” Mr Russell said.
A new paging system introduced to the service about four months ago performed “well above expectations,” he said.
“It was the first real test of the system and it did very well,” Mr Russell said.
The paging system pinpoints details of incidents among several other functions.
It is also being rolled out by the Country Fire Authority and the Rural Ambulance Service.
