A brief but wild weather system left widespread damage across Wangaratta on Friday with cleanups expected to be ongoing for the next two weeks. Wind gusts of up to 80km/h hit the rural city according to the Bureau of Meteorology as rain fell sideways during a downpour of 5mm. The gust recorded at 3:25pm was the highest for August in Wangaratta since 2008. VICSES Wangaratta Unit controller Jess Zuber said the service was called out to around 60 requests for assistance over the weekend, including more than 40 between 3:20pm and 9:30pm on Friday. “It was very bizarre… it just seemed to bypass every other unit like Benalla and Yarrawonga and hit us,” she said. “Large trees coming down caused the most damage, we had a lot of power lines down. “Trees were falling on houses, cars, roads; we did around 20 building damage jobs and all for really similar damage… the wind just lifted tiles predominantly from the ridge cap.” A fallen tree over a power line which created sparks on Tone Road between Vincent Road and Newman Street caused mass power outages for some 1600 homes and properties. Part of Tone Road was closed throughout the incident as well as Newman Street to Provis Street while emergency services cleared the area. Nearby businesses including Bunnings Warehouse and Wangaratta Motor Group reported to be still without power on Saturday morning, with around 338 homes left without power until overnight Saturday according to AusNet’s power outage tracker. Sydney Beach was one of the most heavily affected areas within the city with multiple trees down in the area behind Wangaratta RSL. The footpath on the eastern side of the swing bridge completely blocked the pathway to the bridge as it and the car park area remained closed to the public on Sunday. Rural City of Wangaratta council crews were active throughout the weekend in Carboor, Boorhaman, Byawatha and Cheshunt. Trees toppled along Lindner Road and Warby Range Road in South Wangaratta while trees remained down at the Mitchell Avenue Splash Park. Ms Zuber said SES crews were also dispatched to parts of Laceby, Tarrawingee, Oxley Flats Road and Beechworth-Wangaratta Road. A council spokesperson reassured the community to remain patient given cleanup efforts would take some time due to the widespread debris and damage across the rural city. With the SES set to assist council’s efforts, Ms Zuber echoed the same sentiment. “We understand there is multiple trees on nature strips and those sorts of things that need cleaning up but we’ve got a large area to clean,” she said. Ms Zuber said five crews and 40 volunteers have been working around town over the past three days and urged the community to remain vigilant as tress were still susceptible to falling. She reminded the community that volunteer safety was paramount when attending to callouts and appreciated community compliance to rules, such as slowing to 40km/h when SES crews were working on roads. “We'd like to keep our volunteers safe,” she said. “We were really grateful for all the positive messages and assistance the community provided.” The Bureau forecast possible showers and light winds for the rest of the week. A minor flood warning was issued on the King River at Docker Road Bridge, peaking at 2.99m at 1am Sunday, before dropping by Sunday afternoon.
