Christmas Day was entirely different than Shepparton and Tatura emergency services workers had planned after a wild storm ripped through the region on Christmas Eve.
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Instead of spending Christmas relaxing over lunch with family, Shepparton Search and Rescue and Tatura SES volunteers and CFA volunteers spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day cleaning up fallen trees and helping fix roofs on houses.
Winds of up to 95km/h were recorded at Shepparton Airport at 7.50pm on Christmas Eve, bringing much of the devastation seen around town.
It also saw power cut to 5000 Shepparton homes, with early cooking plans thrown into disarray for many.
A Powercor spokesperson said the Goulburn Valley was the hardest hit area in the Powercor network, with strong winds and lightning causing significant damage to infrastructure across the region.
Crews worked to repair damage in Shepparton, Echuca, Cobram, Tongala, Kyabram and surrounding areas.
More than 270 faults were recorded, with lightning and trees blown into powerlines causing the majority of damage.
Powercor crews from across the state converged on Shepparton on Christmas Day and Boxing Day to work with local crews to complete repairs.
Shepparton Search and Rescue was called out to about 60 or 70 jobs over the two days with the unit’s president Nacole Standfield saying the jobs were split fairly evenly between fallen trees and missing tiles from roofs.
Call-outs stretched throughout Shepparton, along the Goulburn Valley Hwy to about Arcadia, to the Shepparton-Barmah Rd in Shepparton’s north and as far as Dookie.
“It was exceptionally busy considering we were on skeleton staff,” Ms Standfield said.
“Not even five minutes after the storm hit, the pager started going off (with call-outs).”
About 20 volunteers worked on Christmas Eve, with 10 also working through Christmas Day.
The volunteers in Shepparton did manage to sit down for a meal together after Annette Reither, the wife of volunteer Wayne Reither, brought Christmas lunch down for most of those helping out.
Some others managed to duck home for a quick lunch with their families.
Ms Standfield said north Shepparton appeared to be the worst hit for trees down, especially out Shepparton-Bunbartha Rd, while the area around Guthrie and Abernethy streets was the worst hit for building damage.
Mooroopna, Toolamba and Murchison CFA brigade members helped Shepparton Search and Rescue volunteers move trees that had fallen on roads.
Ms Standfield said the storm arrived quickly.
“It rolled in really quick and took a while to back off,” she said.
“First it was the wind, and then it was the rain.
“I’ve never known wind to be that strong.”
Shepparton Search and Rescue and CFA volunteers worked from shortly after the storm hit on Christmas Eve until about 4am on Christmas Day, before returning about 10.30am on Christmas Day and working through until 6pm.
Tatura SES was called out to about 15 jobs in Tatura, Mooroopna, Ardmona, Toolamba and Murchison on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, with many of them taking a significant amount of time to clear multiple fallen trees from roads.
One of the worst hit was the intersection of Tatura-Undera and Merrigum-Ardmona roads, where several trees fell over the road.
At Ardmona, the tin roof came off one home, while in Mooroopna, there were cracked tiles to several buildings.
In Murchison, a tree branch fell on a car that had pulled over in the storm on the town’s main street.
Luckily, the occupants were not hurt.
Volunteers worked from when the storm hit on Christmas Eve until about 1.30am on Christmas Day, before snatching a few hours of sleep before returning to work from 7am to 8pm Monday.
“It’s been quite a long couple of days,” SES unit controller Bec Gould said.
Rushworth SES and Mooroopna CFA helped SES volunteers both days in the two towns.
Both Ms Gould and Ms Standfield thanked the volunteers and their families for giving up their Christmas to help others.
• Meanwhile, a flood watch was issued for the Broken River at 1.30pm on Tuesday.
Isolated minor flooding is possible across localised parts of the flood watch area onto Wednesday, according to VicEmergency.
A flood watch has also been issued for the Seven and Castle creeks, with minor localised flooding possible into Wednesday.
Senior Journalist