Alpine News

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2002
PUBLISHED AT POREPUNKAH
INCORPORATING MYRTLEFORD NEWS
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WILD THUNDERSTORMS STRIKE

Reports and pictures by The immediate aftermath was
MICHAEL GOREY shock and disbelief as leaf litter THE SCHOOL
covered streets and gardens.

W ild thunderstorms struck

the Ovens and Buckland
Valleys on Tuesday, cutting a
swath of destruction in their
wake. Porepunkah and Myrtle-
ford were hardest hit.
The first storm ravaged an area
from Eurobin to Buckland, hit-
ting Porepunkah about 1pm.
Long-time residents described
the storm as one of the most ex-
treme they had ever witnessed.
The sky blackened and an ee-
rie stillness gave way to occa-
sional missiles of ice, which
struck tin roofs like stones from
a catapult.
Hail thundered down while
lightning bolts darted and parried
their way to ground.
There were immediate reports
of damage to windows, skylights,
P orepunkah Primary School
principal Lindsay Clapp-
erton was relieved yesterday to
vehicles and vegetable plots.
report there were no injuries or
The SES was called to Rodney
damage.
McNaughton’s house in
“All the children were inside
Nicholson Street, Porepunkah,
when the hail struck, as it was
after skylights were broken.
preceded by an electrical storm,”
“They came virtually straight
he said.
away and did a very good job,”
“It was traumatic for every-
he said.
body. There was a mixture of ex-
“They put a plastic cover over
citement and fear.
the top to keep out the rain.”
“The children all seem happy
Porepunkah Hotel suffered
about it today though. They’re
water damage, forcing it to close
swapping stories with each other
on Tuesday night.
about the damage at home.”
“The hail was so heavy it
Mr Clapperton said teachers
shredded leaves on the trees,”
acted quickly and calmly to reas- Leaf litter and tree damage at Porepunkah Oval immediately after the storm.
Coral Welsh said.
sure the younger students who
“The spouts filled up and the Tuesday night at the municipal the town’s water supply to run
were scared or shaken. CROPS
water had nowhere to go. It came caravan park. dirty.
“It’s pretty hard because they

The intense hail lasted about
10 minutes. Some hailstones
were up to an inch in diameter
(2.5cm). A blanket of white ice
covered the ground, remaining in
places until late in the evening.
O
in through the walls and through rchards, vineyards and to- “We’ve got our whole crew in The Authority says that de-
get wound up like clock springs
the beer garden into the bistro.” bacco farms sustained sig- Myrtleford,” Mr Nicholls said spite the murky appearance of
almost instantly,” he said.
The clean-up was in full swing nificant damage in the freak storm yesterday. the water, it is safe.
“You need to reassure them
yesterday and the pub re-opened. which struck the Porepunkah “Anything left on the foot- The river was still running
and let them know they’re okay.”
Porepunkah General Store was area on Tuesday. paths we’ll pick up, greens and dirty on Wednesday morning as
also water damaged. Sid Dalbosco, 72, said it’s the metal or whatever, and we’ll take Authority staff endeavored to
MYRTLEFORD establish the cause.
biggest hail he’s seen in 65 years. it to the tip.”

T he first storm completely by-

passed Myrtleford, but the
weather arrived there with a
vengeance about 4pm.
Strong winds uprooted hun-
dreds of trees across the north-
ern part of town around the golf
course and Mummery Road.
Mr Dalbosco said it would
take up to two weeks to assess
Mr Nicholls said it was too
soon to estimate the cost of
damage. He said council would
the was
The town supply, however,
clearing during the morning.
North East Water was pump-
the full extent of the damage.
ing exclusively from the off-take
“The vines have been knocked explore the potential for govern-
ment assistance. at Bakers Gully on Wednesday
around quite badly,” he said.
morning, and asked Bright resi-
“Hail breaks the vines and you
need the leaves to ripen the fruit. BRIGHT WATER dents to be careful with their
water use until the Ovens off-

A branch fell from a tree in
Prince Street, crushing a garage
and breaking a powerline. Amaz-
ingly, the car inside the garage was
undamaged.
Prince Street was blocked for
over half an hour while emer-
gency crews removed a large tree.
Carloads of workers finishing a
shift at Carter Holt Harvey were
Hail outside the Alpine News office in Porepunkah.
backed up in a queue stretching
from Mummery Road to the golf
club, where the fairways and
greens were littered with debris.
Marconi Kindergarten and a
house under construction were
severely damaged. One man was
trapped under rubble for nearly
an hour before being freed and
taken to hospital for treatment.
Most other parts of Myrtle-
ford, Bright and Harrietville were
relatively unscathed. However,
fallen trees closed the Stanley and
Havilah Roads.
State Emergency Service vol-
unteers and council workers were
One of many fallen trees in Mummery Road. kept busy yesterday cleaning up.
N
It’s still early in the season and orth East Water said the take was back in use.
hopefully they will shoot again. storm caused some prob- Meanwhile, the Authority set
“The fruit looks okay, what’s lems with water quality in Bright. up a tanker of clean water in the
there, but it’s hard to say. We’ll It was suspected that land slip- centre of Bright to allow those
need a fortnight to see if there’s page above the Authority’s off- wishing to collect drinking water
regrowth.” take in the Ovens River caused to do so.
Mr Dalbosco said the tobacco
crop hadn’t been badly damaged,
however hothouses were literally
“shot to pieces”.
“Because the tobacco is still
small I don’t think we’ll lose a
great deal,” he said.
“I think we’ll have an ordinary
crop out of it.”
Ironically, the Dalbosco fami-
ly’s insurance agent was visiting
when the storm struck. The man’s
car was hail damaged.
THE COUNCIL
A lpine Shire’s environment
services manager Ian Nich-
olls estimated that 50-60 houses
in Myrtleford sustained signifi-
cant damage.
About 20 people were made A large tree fell across power lines and blocked Prince
temporarily homeless and spent Street in Myrtleford.

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