Gippsland home destroyed by rock ‘tsunami’, government asked to clean up

A rock ‘tsunami’ has destroyed a Gippsland home and the owner’s plea for help to clean it up is falling on deaf ears.

A mountain of rocks from a national park crashed onto Frank Ryan's property in Walhalla during the Gippsland’s storms in June. Picture: Supplied

A rock “tsunami” that fell on a Gippsland home during a wild storm is not likely to be cleaned up any time soon.

Almost 300 tonne of rock fell on Frank Ryan and his wife Bernadette Gomez’s Walhalla property during wild weather in June.

But their plea for the Victorian Government to clean up the mess is falling on deaf ears.

“We were in inundated with a tsunami of rock that came crashing down onto our property from behind us,” he said.

“Five years work that we put into the garden and developing the property was washed away.”

Mr Ryan said it was the Victorian Government’s responsibility to clean up the debris from Baw Baw National Park, which is directly above and beside the property.

The couple said they had moved 62 tonnes of rock and silt by hand and estimated there was about 200 tonne more to go.

“We are the only property in the town to suffer this magnitude of damage,” he said.

“We really desperately need help.”

The 67-year-old said he had spent five hours every day since June working on the property and has so far filled 619 wheelbarrow with rock that have been put back into areas that were washed away.

Frank Ryan has found the clean-up overwhelming. Picture: Supplied

A container on the property surrounded by rock. Picture: Supplied

“It really wears you out after a while,” he said.

“It’s going to be at least 15,000 barrows by the time we get it done.

“It’s incomprehensible how long it would take by hand.”

Mr Ryan said he had contacted the government for help but had been deserted.

“We seriously need someone here with a machine, it’s the only way,” he said.

“We aren’t able to afford a local earthworks contractor so we need the authorities to make our property good again before it was destroyed by crown land.”

Mr Ryan said the debris would only take one week to clear if they had help from machinery.

Bushfire Recovery Victoria refused to answer questions about Mr Ryan’s property.

They said the June storms and floods left a “complicated clean-up job” across a number of different disaster zones around the state.

Bushfire Recovery Victoria said people could register for clean-up program which covered the demolition and removal of structures on eligible properties that were destroyed or damaged beyond repair.

It also includes the removal of hazards such as dangerous materials or trees posing a threat to property.

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