Dandenongs storm damage: June 9 storms remembered a year on

Some storm victims in the Dandenongs are still living in damaged homes, a year after devastating winds left a trail of destruction in the area.

Natalie Guest still doesn’t like the sound of howling wind.

Ms Guest was living with her husband and teenage daughter in Kalorama last year, in the eye of a huge storm that tore through the Dandenongs, leaving a trail of destruction never seen before in the area.

Three huge mountain ash trees fell on the family’s beloved home on June 9, 2021, destroying it. Another tree fell uphill and totalled Ms Guest’s van.

“It’s nearly a year on, and I’ve spoken about it a lot – some days are good, some days are really shit, some days I cry my eyes out and feel sick, and the others I’m kind of happy to get on with it,” she said.

“It’s an emotional rollercoaster.”

The recent windy nights have been a reminder of the terrifying night of the storm.

“I’m so noise sensitive now, I jump at the slightest thing,” she said.

Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of the storm that uprooted the lives of hundreds of residents living in the Dandenongs and caused millions of dollars in damages.

In one devastating night, 177 properties were damaged, 76 of which have been deemed uninhabitable, according to Yarra Ranges Council.

In the middle of winter and a Covid lockdown, tens of thousands of trees fell, blocking roads and bringing down telephone and power lines, leaving thousands without heating and phone or internet connection for weeks.

A girl walks from her destroyed home after the storm. Picture: David Geraghty

The army was eventually called in to help desperate residents, with the area resembling a war zone in the weeks after the storm.

Heartless thieves even stole generators from storm ravaged residents in another blow to the struggling community.

The council says nine properties have since been demolished and expects this number to grow.

It has been a long road to rebuild for residents, with many still resolving insurance issues.

“Over the past 12 months a number of agencies have been available to help residents with the process of rebuilding but for some residents, rebuilding has not even started yet and these services need to continue,” Yarra Ranges Mayor Jim Child said.

The council is also aware of some people living in homes that have been assessed as uninhabitable – where a tree could have gone through a roof and damaged a bedroom, but the rest of the house was not impacted.

Remembering that terrible day, Ms Guest said they didn’t have power at home from late in the afternoon.

Her husband Lee was making his way home from Bayswater but couldn’t get up their road, so had to find an alternative route.

“It was all pretty dark and weird at 5.15pm,” she said

“The winds started at 2pm – it was a 24 hour event – and it didn’t stop that night, it went on until the following afternoon.”

The family, including the couple’s 13-year-old daughter Millie, made the decision to stay downstairs in their two-storey home that night.

It had bluestone walls on either side and a brick wall at the back, so they thought it would be the safest place to be, as the wind continued to howl around them.

“You would hear the crack and thud of trees falling around you and didn’t know where they would hit,” Ms Guest said,

“It went all day and night, Kalorama really copped it.”

Three trees crushed the Guest family’s Kalorama home during the June 9 storm.

The house was destroyed.

Between 10 and 10.30pm that night the first tree hit their house, coming through the main bathroom, lounge, living and kitchen area upstairs.

Water began pouring down Millie’s bedroom wall and the family quickly escaped, grabbing

laptops, chargers, and putting on ski boots to cope with the “freezing” weather.

The trio and their pet cocker spaniel then made the dangerous 200m trek to a neighbour’s house, dodging fallen trees and massive holes in the ground, using the lights from their phones.

They were able to spend the night sheltering in a little studio under their neighbour’s home, with three other people and three dogs.

“Utter devastation,” is how Ms Guest described the family’s reaction to finding their house destroyed the next morning.

“It wasn’t until morning we discovered another two trees had fallen on our house and van,” Ms Guest said.

“The house was a crumpled mess.

“It was just like armageddon.”

In the days after the storm, residents in the street were stuck, blocked in by fallen trees.

Trees crushed the home.

The remains of the Kalorama home.

There was no phone reception, and they had to rely on nearby family members and emergency service workers to bring them supplies.

The Guest family has been renting a home in Knox, but are planning to rebuild a new home on their old block.

Ms Guest said they had no hesitation to move back to the hills.

“All the trees that were going to fall are gone, and BRV (Bushfire Recovery Victoria) got rid of others that could have been problematic,” she said.

“We moved into a quiet street in Bayswater North which is lovely but it’s not our community.

“We’re desperate to get back up there.”

Ms Guest said the bushfire recovery team had been an “incredible help” to her family, and Yarra Ranges Council had also provided support as the family worked to get their house rebuilt.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE

A huge tree crushed a home in Monbulk. Picture: Wayne Taylor

Emerald SES unit controller Ben Owen left work early on June 9 to prepare for what he expected to be a normal storm event. It turned out to be the worst storm he has ever seen.

Before he even got to the Emerald unit, Mr Owen had to stop and get a fallen tree off the road. It quickly became apparent things were going to get very busy.

Mr Owen reached out to CFA brigades to ask for help as the night progressed and things became more serious.

“About 8pm, that’s when we started getting calls for people trapped in homes in Mt Dandenong and Olinda,” he said.

“We shifted our attention from clearing roads to assisting people who were trapped and may have needed medical attention.”

Ben Horn and his son in Kalorama, where a massive tree luckily missed their home. Picture: Jason Edwards

Mr Owen said it was really hard for crews, who were professionally trained to help people, to realise it was too dangerous to enter some areas.

“But you’ve got to take stock and realise it’s actually not safe to be here, we’ve got to take shelter.”

Mr Owen said he was “amazed” no first responder or residents were killed in the storm.

“There were some people who were hurt but for there not to be a fatality for a first responder or member of the public was absolutely amazing,” he said.

He said the damage caused by the storm was “cyclonic”.

The Emerald SES unit’s own truck was crushed by a tree during the ferocious winds.

Mr Owen the communication failure during the storm, with the loss of phone lines and internet, needed to be addressed to avoid a similar scenario in the future.

The clean up took months. Picture: Jason Edwards

“We have to plan for that to continue to happen over and over again until something is put in place,” Mr Owen said, adding that the Emerald SES unit was looking to install satellite internet as a back up.

He said back up power was needed for all the phone towers and telephone exchanges.

“We used to run on the old fashioned phone system where you had a wire running into your phone and that never dropped out,” he said.

“But now that we rely on our phones that come from the nbn and when the power goes off an hour later there’s no phone or data.

“People need to be able to call triple-0 or the SES or even just to say to a loved one ‘I’m OK.’

“Who is responsible to make sure we have communications?”

The Liberal Party last week announced $8 million to fund a new SES unit for Monbulk if it wins the state election, and Mr Owen said it was hugely needed.

“Every other SES facility is 20-25 minutes away from Mt Dandenong, Kalorama, so to get a purpose-built SES up on the hill closer to those communities when they need it, I think it’s absolutely essential.”

Ben Owen was called out to help storm victims when his wife phoned him to say their house had been crushed by a huge pine tree last October. Picture: David Caird

In a cruel twist of fate, Mr Owen’s own family home in Cockatoo was destroyed in another storm last October.

In consultation with his insurance company, the home was demolished in January, but Mr Owen plans to rebuild on the same site.

LONG WAIT FOR POPULAR TOURIST SPOT TO REOPEN

The 1000 Steps was badly damaged in the June 9 storm and is yet to reopen.

Parks Victoria said the 1.4km track was extensively impacted by the storm, with about 150 trees falling across the steep track, dislodging many concrete steps and causing extensive damage to the safety hand rails and support posts.

In an update on its website, Parks Victoria said while the damage was being assessed, cleared and restored, the 1000 Steps would remain closed until late-2022.

Several large mountain ash trees also fell in William Ricketts Sanctuary in Mt Dandenong during the storm, damaging several buildings and sculptures.

COMMUNITY SPIRIT

Luke Pedley set up a barbecue and gazebo for the community after the storm. Picture: Jason Edwards

Luke Pedley was one of many hills’ residents who rallied to support storm victims in the weeks following the devastating event.

Living in Kalorama, Mr Pedley’s home luckily escaped major damage, but like thousands of others he faced weeks without power.

“Rather than sitting around doing nothing, I bought a barbecue for the locals and workers that were up there,” he said.

Setting it up at 5 Ways in Kalorama, the barbecue was only meant to run a week but ended up going for three, feeding grateful workers and locals.

“A lot of people at the time just weren’t coping, there was no real help from the government and it was winter and freezing cold,” Mr Pedley said.

“We were only going to do it for a week and ended up doing it for three weeks.

“I met people with mental health issues and a lot of people were really struggling

“I wanted it to be a quiet place and made sure where we were there were no chainsaws, no generators.

“It was nice and quiet and peaceful – we had a fire going 24/7.”

Mr Pedley said there needed to be more mental health support for storm victims.

He also feared the tree debris left behind from the storm needed to be cleared or in the next few years the hills could become “a bushfire haven”.

Cr Child said the storm was “a crisis that tested us beyond belief”.

“Not only were we dealing with the storm and subsequent damage, but we were impacted by Covid lockdowns and restrictions, and then the added loss of power, telecommunications and no water,” Cr Child said.

“An absolute stand out for me looking back was how the community came together to support each other.”

HUGE CLEAN UP BILL

It has cost Yarra Ranges Council millions to remove and process fallen trees. Picture: Jason Edwards

According to Yarra Ranges Council, the cost of removing, processing and disposing of fallen trees and repairing roads damaged in the storm has been $10.3 million.

But the council said the actual cost of the services supporting the recovery is thought to be closer to $31.4 million, based on experience from previous disasters.

Cr Child said: “We’re grateful for all the funds received to date that have supported our community which so far has been almost $14 million.

“We know this is going to take five years at least for our communities to rebuild – not just

the 12 months we have been funded for.”

Many of the fallen trees have found new life in the community, including as jumps at the Lilydale and Mooroolbark Pony Club.

Residents who have experienced trauma, damage or loss as a result of the June storm are able to discuss their circumstances with the Victorian Storm Recovery Support Program: 0408 521 320.

Residents can also contact the council’s community recovery team on 0477 056 265 for advice or connection to a range of support services.