Geelong storm: Waurn Ponds family’s home wrecked in violent weather event

Debris on the floors, a neighbour’s wheelie bin on what’s left of their roof, a jagged shard of glass lodged in a door frame. This is what one Waurn Ponds family endured during Wednesday morning’s monster storm.

The bedroom where the Greer’s child sleeps. Picture: Peter Ristevski

Ben and Erin Geer’s Waurn Ponds home “literally looks like a bomb went off” in their front yard.

Shattered glass and debris covering the floors, a neighbour’s wheelie bin on what’s left of their roof, a jagged shard of glass lodged in a door frame, the garage roof torn off and thrown across their backyard and a heavy roof tile smashed through a window resting just centimetres from where their four-year-old sleeps.

Then there’s also Erin’s blood among the shattered glass on the floor, dripping a trail from the living room windows – which exploded during a monster storm – to the front doorway, where she waited to be taken to hospital for stitches to her arm.

Erin Geer was injured in her home when a piece of glass lodged in her arm as the wind swept through the house breaking windows. Picture: Peter Ristevski

The Geer’s Oakwood Cres, Waurn Ponds home took the brunt of a major storm burst that left four houses “completely uninhabitable” and up to 30 more with extensive roof damage about 1am on Wednesday.

The damaged home in Oakwood Cres. Picture: David Crosling

The storm tore through small area of Waurn Ponds and nearby Mount Duneed, leaving a trail of destruction likened to that of a tornado.

“It’s just chaotic to be honest, I don’t know where to start,” schoolteacher Ben Geer said from his destroyed kitchen.

Erin Geer was injured in her home when a piece of glass lodged in her arm as the wind swept through the house breaking windows. Blood on the floor. Picture: Peter Ristevski

Glass from a shattered window. Picture: Peter Ristevski

Glass lodged in a doorframe. Picture: Peter Ristevski

“It literally looks like a bomb went off, with shattered glass and a roof missing.

“[Erin is] shaken, but she’ll be okay.

“We’re just lucky, believe it or not, lucky that all this can be replaced and a couple of stitches are a couple of stitches really.”

Ben and the couple’s four-year-old weren’t home when the storm ripped apart the Geer’s home, but Erin became the only recorded injury during the event when her living room windows exploded while she watched the storm from inside.

Erin was taken to Geelong Hospital by paramedics where she received multiple stitches to her elbow.

For the young mum, the community spirit shown by neighbours in the aftermath of the event was heartening, with one neighbour keeping her company until paramedics arrived despite the damage to their own home.

Originally published as Geelong storm: Waurn Ponds family’s home wrecked in violent weather event