Overnight storm brings powerline down in front of ambulance station

By Jemma Jones

Sep 2, 2024

Kyabram residents woke up to blue skies and sunshine following a night of gale force winds that caused destruction to powerlines and obstructed key roads.

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In the early hours of Monday September 2, three powerlines were brought down by a fallen tree on Mellis St in Kyabram following reported gusts of 72km/h.

The large tree fell onto powerlines on the opposite side of the street and in front of the Kyabram Ambulance Station, with residents reporting a loud bang and an explosion.

Mellis St resident Bernie Brown was without power after he heard the bang of what he thought was the tree falling at 3.44am.

“I haven’t been able to sleep since then really … I didn’t know whether I was gonna have a roof on me,” he said.

Mr Brown said he heard what he thought was the generator on the power pole exploding.

**SES crew working on the tree fallen across Mellis St on Monday September 2.** Photo by Contributed

Another power pole fell on top of the roof of a house about 100m down from the fallen tree on Mellis St.

The pole was resting on top of the roof with what seemed to be only superficial damage.

A Powercor representative said crews were working to restore power to 34,600 customers across Victoria including the Kyabram and district region.

The representative said due to the complexity and extent of network damage, it may take longer than usual to restore power.

About 9am Powercor crews arrived at Mellis St to assess the damage, and the representative said they are also investigating damage to Undera and Lancaster poles as a result of fallen trees.

The power outage in Kyabram has now been limited to the area between Albion St, McCormick Rd, Mellis St and Forrest St.

**A powerline fell onto a Mellis St residence on Monday September 2, following a tree collapsing onto powerlines about 100 metres down the road.** Photo by Jemma Jones

Victorian SES said it had received more than 2800 requests for assistance, with 1300 jobs still active.

Kyabram SES controller Paul Octigan said they have received 14 callouts from 4am mainly for reports of fallen trees in Kyabram, Girgarre, and Tongala.

He warned residents to be alert ahead of severe weather such as Monday morning.

“The main thing is to tie things down ... move cars into safe areas ... and check spouts,” he said.

“But when you get severe wind like last night, you’ve just got to stay inside — it’s the best thing you can do.”

A representative from Ambulance Victoria said there was no impact to ambulance operations in Kyabram, although the ambulance station was not accessible.

The representative said that they have been using a spare ambulance from another station to make sure Kyabram and district residents could access emergency support while the Mellis St site was being secured.