Covid ‘out the window’ at epicentre of Victorian storms

Three weeks after a storm hit the Dandenong Ranges, where the average minimum temperature hovers just above 3C, hundreds are still without power.

Volunteer firefighter Shane O’Dwyer delivers generators to Kalorama residents without power. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

Covid-19 went out the window for the volunteers at the Kalorama Mount Dandenong fire brigade three weeks ago.

Fifteen people, including locals who had fled their homes and firefighters – took refuge at the centre the night 200km/h easterly winds belted the suburb in Melbourne’s outer east on June 9.

“As a young fella I worked in the army as an engineer attached to an artillery battery,” volunteer firefighter Shayne O’Dwyer said.

“It sounded like a war zone because you could just hear the crack and thud and the wind whistling through,” the 60-year-old said.

“And we are talking not just a howling wind but something like a steam train as it’s getting closer.”

Kalorama Mount Dandenong fire brigade captain Bill Robinson said his team of 22 volunteers delivered about 200 generators to residents in the days after the storm, and they continue to conduct welfare checks on locals.

“This Sunday we are having a barbecue just for us because people want to talk, people want to tell their stories,” the 63-year-old said.

Kalorama residents, volunteers unite after devastating storm

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Mr Robinson’s crew worked through the night in Kalorama – the “epicentre” of the storm which left no suburb untouched in the Dandenong Ranges – to perform at least half a dozen rescues without the help of other emergency services who could not access the cut-off community.

Today, three weeks later, when the average minimum temperature in winter hovers just above 3C, 410 properties are still without power across the Dandenong Ranges. Hundreds still rely on generators and have been told power will not return until July 9.

Although most roads are now clear, uprooted trees and snapped branches line a now desolate Mount Dandenong tourist drive.

Another resident Vanessa gives neighbour Barry a drink. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

After much delay Olinda resdient Rhonda Gasson and her husband finally receive a generator. Photograph by Arsineh Houspian

Emergency Management Victoria reported 32 homes were “non-habitable” with assessments still taking place.

Neighbours Nancy Wallace, 86, and Lyn Osborne, 65, were told the extensive damage left on their properties could be remedied after trees punctured holes in the walls and partially crushed both roofs.

But the pair said the adrenaline was only just wearing off ahead of a long physical and mental clean-up effort.

“We are aware … dealing with the mundane things, you can sink into a hole,” Ms Wallace said.

“So there’s always been that community (spirit) and I believe it’s going to be strengthened. But I also believe quite a few people will move off the mountain – and in that way it will change forever.”

They like to call themselves “Shayne’s girls” after the volunteer firefighter conducted welfare checks on them and other residents who needed help to fuel up their generators or have debris removed from driveways.

However, they said most Kalorama residents remained stoic in the face of the terrifying storm.

“I call them my girls,” Mr O’Dwyer said. “A couple of elderly women who I ended up sort of looking after for probably the next week – just to make sure that, you know, they had food and that they were OK.

“But you know, all these girls were just stoic, you know, they never complained. You know, they’ve come through the Second World War and a depression and, you know, they have seen hard times.”

Mr O’Dwyer lambasted reports that “flatlanders” – people who don’t live on the mountain – were looting generators from properties, and he also said the state government was too slow to act in the wake of the storm.

“A week down the line the state government got off their ass and got the ADF, which was good,” he said. “Up until then, it was pretty much a local effort with the SES and council.

“We definitely needed boots on the ground,” he added.

He said he wasn’t too worried about politicians who visited for a photo opportunity because “like anywhere in Australia that usually gets nailed by bushfires, or floods, or cyclones, it’s the local people and neighbours and stuff that ­usually pull through.”

And while the clean-up continues outside, inside the Kalorama Mount Dandenong fire brigade HQ Mr Robinson said: “By the way, did you notice Covid’s not up here … we threw that out the window weeks ago.”