Clean-up: Wild winds similar to those seen early last year kept Knox SES crews busy. Picture: Wayne Hawkins
WILD weather wreaked havoc across the eastern suburbs, triggering power outages and fallen trees and more than 180 calls in 24 hours to the Knox SES.
Deputy controller of operations Craig Carson said the worst hit areas were Bayswater and Ferntree Gully.
Most of the calls were for trees on the road or trees on houses causing building damage, Mr Carson said.
About 30 SES volunteers and several CFA crews worked through to 1.30am this morning attending to calls for assistance. Most of the damage has since been cleared.
‘‘Most of the calls began when the [wind] front came in during the early afternoon and continued throughout the night,’’ Mr Carson said.
Crews were still seeing jobs trickling in this morning, with people waking up to the damage, he said.
And more than 1000 Knox homes are still without power, SP Ausnet spokesman Jonathon Geddes confirmed.
Mr Geddes said more than 2300 homes in the Yarra Ranges were still in the dark.
The cause of the outages were heavy winds bringing down powerlines, he said.
Power was hoped to be restored by late this afternoon or early evening, but was dependent on the weather.
Heavy winds are expected again today which Mr Geddes said would ‘‘prolong or even add’’ to their workload.
More than 200 employees worked late into the night to restore power, Mr Geddes said, with all measures taken to ensure workers’ safety.
Mr Geddes warned residents to steer clear of any fallen powerlines as they could still be live.