Chelsea SES Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE: 7AM MONDAY 18 JANUARY 2010

Bayside Avenue Battered:

At about 1am on Monday the 18th of January, Chelsea SES were called to a tree down in Bayside Avenue, Edithvale. On arrival at the scene, members discovered that the fallen tree was only part of the story.

Almost a Dozen homes on both sides of the street, had been damaged by what is believed to have been a Microburst; a severe wind gust that affects a very narrow corridor and in most cases lasts only a few seconds.

"There were power lines down, fences blown in all directions, 2 homes with roof damage and a trampoline that had been blown approximately 100 Meters and onto the opposite side of the road, landing on top of a white Holden Commodore station wagon parked in a driveway" said Chelsea SES spokesman Phil Wall.

According to residents, the damage was done in a matter of seconds. Through the night, 6 members in 2 vehicles were on scene for almost 5 hours tarping roofs, removing trees and making fallen fences as safe as possible.

As is often the case, most attending members just had time to get home, shower and head off to work, however, from about 7am, calls began coming in from Bayside Avenue residents who had woken up this morning to find the damage that a few seconds of Mother Nature at her toughest had dealt out during the short but damaging furore.

Photographs:

Available

*Reqests for photographs from the scene can be made to Phil Wall on 0408 388 722.