Yarra Ranges storm: Monbulk, Mt Evelyn, Olinda, Sherbrooke storm damage
A hills public pool is the latest casualty in the storm’s reign of terror, with fallen trees causing carnage across the Yarra Ranges. Here’s our coverage.
Outer East
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Chaos continues to reign in the Yarra Ranges with emergency services working to unblock roads across the hills and valley.
Storms ravaged area with 29 people trapped in their homes and more than 650 phone calls for help last night.
Locals are even lending a hand with chainsaws, cutting up trees that have fallen across roads in The Basin.
Monbulk pool is the latest casualty of the massive storm that ravaged the Yarra Ranges overnight.
Yarra Ranges Council has been contacted for comment after a tree crashed through the roof of the Monbulk Aquatic Centre on Baynes Park Rd.
Lilydale Senior Sergeant Ray White said police were busy with a large number of tree intersections without lights, trees across roads and many residens were still without power.
Sen-Sgt White said the SES was “flatstick” helping with trees that had fallen.
He warned the community to be mindful after the rain had waterlogged the ground, which was causing concern about possible tree instability.
“The safety message is to stay away from trees,” he said.
This comes as three police highway patrol cars are sitting at the base of Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd in Montrose monitoring traffic heading up the mountain.
Earlier Ambulance Victoria has reported a paramedic escaped injury after a tree crushed his car in Sherbrooke overnight.
Ambulance crews responded to reports of a woman and her son being trapped after a tree fell on their Olinda home just after 11pm.
A number of trees fell as crews travelled to Sherbrooke Rd, with a falling tree hitting the back of the MICA vehicle and blocked the path of the ambulance.
A spokesperson said the paramedic was shaken but not injured.
They said police were forced to walk to rescue the mother and son after their car was trapped by fallen trees.
A spokesperson said police met waiting paramedics at Sherbrooke and the mother and son were taken to Maroondah Hospital in stable condition.
Lilydale SES unit controller Shaun Caulfield said he hadn’t seen a storm event like this for more 20 years.
Mr Caulfield said the group had received hundreds of calls for help, including 29 people trapped in their houses by falling trees.
“It’s been pretty huge and it’s still going,” he said.
Members from the Lilydale and Emerald SES unit spent the better part of two hours cutting through trees to get to a property in Kalorama where someone had significant injuries, after a tree fell on their house.
“In the process of that a large tree branch fell on the Emerald unit’s 4WD which is only a few months old,” he said.
“It destroyed it but luckily their members were OK, which is the most important bit.”
Mr Caulfield said there was a point on Wednesday night where members were only responding to urgent calls in Kalorama.
“We had to make a safety based decision, that it was too dangerous to go up for what we call routine tree on roof jobs; we were only going to life-threatening jobs on Mt Dandenong.”
At the moment crews still don’t have access beyond Inverness Rd on Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd due to trees down.
He said many people were still without power and phones.
The SES unit also helped rescue two people who became stuck in their cars after driving into floodwaters in Paynes Rd Chirnside Park and River St Healesville.
“The one in Chirnside Park it was so dark it wasn’t recklessness on their part, they came around the corner at a sensible speed and just ended up being completely awash in water,” Mr Caulfield said.
Residents from across the hills have reported being impacted by falling trees, floods and power outages.
Monbulk CFA reported all roads out of the town were closed with trees across the roads.
A post on Facebook told people to avoid driving on the roads unless absolutely critical.
“Further severe weather expected this morning and we expect to be very busy again,” the post said.
Popular green grocers the Carter Brothers on Monbulk Silvan Rd in Silvan has also had a tree fall on their roadside shop.
On their Facebook the brothers said: “Here is a glimpse of our poor little shop.”
“Thankfully we are all safe and that’s the most important thing.”
“Now we just have to wait until the trees are cleared and power comes back to assess the damage.”
Mt Evelyn is another town badly impacted by the storm with residents reporting trees across roads and houses, while power, water and phone reception are all out.
One mum told Lilydale Leader her family had been blocked in the driveway by a tree this morning and she and her young daughter had vacated the mountain to the safety of her parents house.
She said a tree had smashed the water metre, cutting access off.
The mother said she saw a car on the side of York Rd, smashed in, after hitting a tree on the road during the night.
“It’s carnage,” she said.
Another resident Natalie Roadnight said she heard a tree fall in the middle of the night and did not expect the power to return until Friday or the weekend.
Ms Roadnight said she and her partner were lucky compared to her neighbour who had two trees fall on their home.
Meanwhile in Lilydale drivers spotted a trampoline stuck in powerlines.
The Montrose Football Club hasn’t evaded storm damage with trees crushing goalposts.
However the club’s chair Aaron Puddy said while the club has suffered some minor damage to its infrastructure, there were plenty of people worse off.
“We are thinking of them at this time and if we can help anyone in the community please reach out to us,” Mr Puddy said.
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