By Brendan Rees
A massive clean up was undertaken after wild storms lashed across Casey, bringing down trees and cutting off power to thousands on Wednesday evening 30 January.
After a sweltering hot day, a severe thunderstorm in what was described as a “mini-tornado” sparked hundreds of calls for help with the Narre Warren SES responding to 164 jobs from 5.30pm.
Tooradin badly bared the brunt of the storm with the roof of tide master boat on the foreshore flinging off, narrowly missing people at a nearby ice-cream shop.
“We had customers in, and they had to hide behind the counter because they could see the all the roof of the tide master coming past them,” Tooradin Ice-cream Shop owner Alissa Light said.
“We had to evacuate them because they were too scared, so we had to put them in the bakery so they could finish off eating their ice-cream.”
Ms Light said two of her signs also blew off, damaging their garden bench, leading her to add: “I can’t believe no one got injured.”
“The airconditoner has fallen over on the roof, the power was off, the gutters on the roof are ruined,” she said.
A power blackout until 10pm meant thousand dollars’ worth of ice-cream had to be thrown out at her shop.
Devon Meadows, Lynbrook, Cranbourne, Hampton Park, Clyde and Narre Warren South were also reportedly badly hit by the storm.
SES Narre Warren Unit Controller Damian Burns said crews attended nearly a hundred jobs including removing trees from roads and carriageways, and cleaning up damage or blockage to houses and buildings. No injuries were reported.
SES units from Malvern, Monash, Whitehorse, Maroondah and Glen Eira that were less effected by the storms assisted with jobs in Casey.
“Major jobs were for trees down with volunteers still out on jobs well past midnight,” Mr Burns said.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the magnitude of the wind gusts ranged between 90km/h to 100 km/h.
Duty forecaster Stuart Coombs said the atmosphere was unstable with up-droughts rising due to the heat and unable “to go any higher.”
“It’s what you might consider a cap in the atmosphere, so the cap was holding for much of the day and then around mid-afternoon finally it was breached and there was rapid thunderstorm development,” duty forecaster Stuart Coombs said.
The Royal Botanic Gardens in Cranbourne was lashed with 19 millimetres where several trees fell and a number of walking paths washed out.
“A large Swamp Gum fell near the Woodland Picnic Area and an old Acacia Black Wattle Fell in the overflow carpark. The Natural Areas team have been out all morning cleaning up the debris,” Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne Conservation Officer Ollie Sherlock said.
Devon Meadows CFA brigade captain Andrew Swain said power lines down were brought in Muddy Gates Lane in Tooradin with the area without power for eight hours.
He said the thunderstorm also brought down power lines on Worthing Road in Devon Meadows.
“We drove around our area removed what we could off the road without tying up the SES,” Mr Swain said. “I haven’t seen rain and wind like that 16 years, it was just like a mini-tornado.”
Other businesses in Tooradin felt the effects of the storm including the Boardwalk Cafe where water seeped through the back roller door, while a gate was blown off at the Post Office. Rubbish bins were also reportedly detached and “flown down the road” on South Gippsland Highway.
Tooradin Primary school principal Zania Cope said three trees came down near their staff carpark while branches fell onto the oval. “We’re just so lucky there’s nothing that went through any building,” she said.
Ms Cope was astounded by the community spirit in “rallying together” in the clean-up.
“The camaraderie amongst our community helping people in need was sensational. We feel very honoured and privileged to be part of this community,” she said.
