By Brendan Rees
A couple has woken with a shock after a large tree came crashing at the front of their Cranbourne South home following strong winds on Sunday morning 13 September.
Narre Warren State Emergency Service volunteers were called to the property at 7am where they spent three hours using pole saws and chainsaws cutting and clearing the conifer tree.
SES spokeswoman Tracey Hayward said it was “extremely lucky because the actual tree itself hadn’t hit the house”.
“One more metre and it could’ve actually done a lot more damage to their home,” she said.
She said the couple woke about 6am after hearing possums “stumping onto their roof” but upon further inspection they realised the tree had been completely uprooted and hit the quarter part of their house.
“It was completely unsafe; you couldn’t enter onto their porch way or anything,” Ms Hayward said.
The incident comes after damaging winds have struck Victoria in recent weeks including a severe storm last month which caused three deaths from falling trees as well as power outages and widespread building damage.
In the event of a storm, the SES said the safest place to be is indoors and encourages people to check that loose items such as outdoor settings, umbrellas and trampolines are safely secured and to move vehicles under cover or away from trees.
For flood or storm emergency assistance the public can call the SES on 132 500.
