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Big clean-up after storm damage to take weeks

The clean-up following last weekend’s wild and stormy weather is set to continue for some time to come

By Latrobe City Council - 27th August 2001 - Back to News

The clean-up following last weekend’s wild and stormy weather is set to continue for some time to come, with Council estimating its tree crews and road maintenance crews have several weeks of work ahead of them before all of the damage is cleaned up.

Latrobe City Mayor, Councillor Brendan Jenkins, said that the considerable buffeting over the weekend meant Council’s tree crews and road crews had been inundated with work over the weekend, responding to more than eighty calls from concerned citizens.

"Our crews are to be congratulated for the great job they undertook in hard and trying conditions. Often their work goes unheralded, but on this occasion I’m sure citizens will join me in especially thanking them for their work," Cr Jenkins said.

"Our crews responded extremely well to the situation on Saturday and Sunday when most of the damage occurred, clearing numerous fallen trees and debris to get traffic moving again in the shortest possible time. However, those emergency responses were only the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds of trees still require some remedial work in trimming hanging or broken branches to render them safe, and protect themselves and other trees against further damage, and this will need to be done in the ensuing weeks," Cr Jenkins said.

"In many cases, serious damage has occurred to the structure of trees after limbs have been ripped away or smashed. Some of these trees are so scarred after a storm, that they pose a further danger, and therefore have to be removed. Others, while not a physical danger, will never recover enough after incurring storm damage to grow into reasonable specimens again. In such cases our arborist will sometimes advise the tree be removed and replaced.

"While urban and roadside trees have been our first priority and are being attended to immediately, there is also considerable damage sustained by trees in Latrobe’s parks and gardens. In many cases we will have to wait for the ground to dry out before attending to these trees, to avoid other damage to the parkland. However, these trees will be attended to as soon as possible," Cr Jenkins said.

"Road closures due to local flooding aggravated the situation in some circumstances, and our crews were kept busy throughout the week ensuring roads were kept safe at minimum inconvenience to citizens," Cr Jenkins added.

Latrobe City Council maintains a 24 hour after-hours emergency number, so that citizens can report or seek assistance in emergencies such as where there is severe storm damage. The after-hours emergency number is 0408 512 953.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: latrobecity@gippslander.com

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