Ongoing clean-up after storm event

Published on 16 June 2021

The majority of Moorabool was affected by the major storm event that hit Victoria on Wednesday evening.  Compounding this event was the loss of power, communications, landlines and mobiles and network coverage.

Council’s customer service team has taken well over 200 calls from residents regarding issues relating to the storm, with officers from other departments such as Emergency Management, Parks and Gardens and Works crew taking hundreds more calls.

More than 1000 homes were without power after the first 24 hours and more than half the Shire did not have landlines, mobiles or network coverage.  More than 400 properties only had power restored late Sunday.

Given the scale of the event across the region an Incident Control Centre was established in Ballarat on Thursday to coordinate the response across many local government areas with major impacts occurring in both Moorabool and Hepburn.

Council has staff and contractors on the ground in many areas of the Shire, who are continuing to work on the significant clean up task ahead.

“Sometimes as quick as we clear road access, trees fall again and many are affecting powerlines,” Chief Emergency Officer Cherie Graham said.

“DELWP heavy machinery were also called into assist Council with some of the road access in Korweinguboora and Spargo Creek where the devastation was so bad.  Our crews and contractors have been working hand in hand with Powercor to ensure power reconnection was a priority for our residents.”

Council has been coordinating meetings with emergency services, with several meetings held in Blackwood where communications and power were down until Monday night.

The relief and recovery team has been making phone calls to the majority of the Korweinguboora, Spargo Creek and Blackwood areas and will then move to Colbrook, Blakeville, Gordon North and Dales Creek/Greendale where homes have been destroyed and damaged. 

Council’s Building Inspector and Environmental Health officers have also been in areas making assessments and issuing any emergency orders and building orders to assist with insurance claims.

A Council Emergency Recovery Number has been activated. The community can call 5366 1323 to talk to a Recovery Officer. Please use this number if you need to speak to a staff member relating to issues on your property.

Any other enquiries or requests for trees over roads that are still falling or have not been cleared for initial access please phone 5366 7100 to report to our teams to attend.

Community Hub Pop-ups will be convened in Blackwood and Korweinguboora initially then in other areas if required.  Time and locations of these centres will be posted when venues can be booked.

Planning for longer term recovery for the communities and our residents, the roadsides and environment have already commenced and given the scale of the event will likely take many months to complete.