DAMAGING winds lashed the Mornington Peninsula and Frankston areas last week, causing significant disruption and destroying iconic beach boxes.
From 7pm on Sunday September 1 and 3pm on Tuesday September 3, the SES received more than 1500 calls for help in the southern metropolitan region. Of those, 1100 were related to downed trees and more than 400 for building damage. Frankston was the hardest hit with 285 jobs. Hastings SES were called to 176 jobs while Sorrento SES had 130 requests for help.
Many beach boxes were severely damaged or ripped apart particularly along Shire Hall Beach after wind speeds as high as 130km were recorded along the peninsula.|
The community has also been devastated by the sinking of an 82-year-old vessel, the Plover, which succumbed to cyclonic winds while moored in the bay. The Plover was used by fishing charter company Bay Fish N Trips. The Dolphin Research Institute has launched a GoFundMe to save the Plover with nearly $7000 already raised. “We will do everything we can to get her back on the water. Thank you to everyone in the local community and the Plover community for their wonderful messages of support,” Bay Fish N Trips said in a social media post.
Mornington Peninsula Beach Box Association president Mark Davis said it was “probably one of the worst that I’ve seen in terms of impact where we have high tide or king tides combined with severe wind squalls and the wind coming from a north westerly direction”.
He said the impact of wild weather had been intensified by the Port Phillip Bay channel deepening project in 2008 and a wave screen built to protect the Mornington Pier, but it has “diverted a lot of the surge onto the beach”.
In a social media post, Mornington Peninsula Shire Briars Ward councillor Despi O’Connor said she was devastated to hear about the loss of the beach boxes and called on the state government “to do the work on this public asset so as to ensure the longevity of the beach and the area right through to Mother’s Beach”. “We must fight for funding for our coasts for mitigation and adaptation before we lose it all. We don’t have long to act,” she wrote.
The Mornington Peninsula Shire took more than 900 calls and logged more than 600 customer requests, most of which were tree concerns. The Shire also activated two power and shower relief hubs at Civic Reserve Recreation Centre in Mornington and Red Hill Recreation Reserve, where people could charge electrical devices and use the shower and toilet facilities. A relief hub at Somerville Recreation Centre was also opened to provide help to any Western Port residents without power, with the shire also ensuring vulnerable clients still had access to essential services.
“Once again, the Mornington Peninsula has found itself faced with the impacts and challenges of storm damage. Unfortunately, there has been a clear increase in the frequency of these extreme weather events,” Mayor Cr Simon Brooks said. “Together with our contractors, we are working through a priority list of cases involving tree debris removal, inspections of damaged property and initial impact assessments,” he said, adding an “enormous thank you to our emergency services”.
Sorrento SES duty officer Peter LeBoeuf said it was one of the worst storms to hit the area in the past three years.
He said many calls for help were for building damage, as well as downed trees and large branches causing traffic hazards including two hours spent clearing a pine tree blocking a driveway in Flinders. Mr LeBoeuf said they were fortunate to have the help of CFA units clearing roads.
First published in the Mornington News – 10 September 2024
