AN INTENSE storm cell, which touched down in a discrete area of Phillip Island last Sunday, February 2, shortly after 5pm, has been described as a “mini cyclone” by affected residents mostly in the Ventnor area on the east side of the island.
The area was battered by 124km/h winds and hailstones, up to the size of golf balls, as the tropical storm swept in at the end of a hot day when temperatures exceeded 36°C.
Several strong thunderstorms crossed the Island in the hour that followed bringing down trees and branches, causing damage to roofs and cutting power for more than 24 hours in some cases.
“I’ve got a weather station at the house and it recorded just under 100km/h before it got smashed,” said Greg Price, a rural resident of Ventnor.
“It was ferocious. Big hailstones and winds that would have been well above 100km/h,” he said.
The burst snapped one large tree off half-way up the trunk and brought down dozens of branches at Greg’s place.
“We’re just lucky none of them hit the house or shed but we had to cut away some large branches just to get out.”
The story was the same at a large number of properties, but mostly confined to the area around Ventnor Beach and Ventnor, stretching out towards the Summerland Peninsula and back towards Red Rocks.
“We looked back through our records and it’s the third busiest 24 hours we’ve had in recent years,” said Phillip Island SES Unit Controller Phil Friedlos.
“We had 45 callouts, mostly involving trees or branches down, and most of them started coming in over a short space of time.
“It mostly involved clearing trees across roads and driveways, but we did have some branches resting on roofs that caused some property damage. There were also a few places where rain had got in or skylights were damaged.
“It was pretty intense,” Mr Friedlos said.
“No cars were damaged to the best of my knowledge but as destructive as it was, we’re probably pretty fortunate there wasn’t more damage.
“Most of the callouts were in the Ventnor area, with a couple in the Redrocks area and one or two in Cowes.”
Responding to the calls for help were the Phillip Island, San Remo and Wonthaggi SES Units together with the Phillip Island CFA.
“The vehicles and equipment we have at the moment is pretty good and we’re due for a replacement 4WD ute this year which will be good. We not bad for numbers (volunteers) but you could always do with a few more.”
Anyone who would like to join the SES should go to the ‘Join Us’ page on the website at https://www.ses.vic.gov.au/join-us
While the storm hit homes hardest, our feathered friends were not immune with Phillip Island Nature Parks forced to cancel the Penguin Parade with visitors receiving a full refund. Earlier visitors sheltered inside the penguin centre until the storm passed.
Ultimately, just 14.2ml were recorded by the Bureau of Meteorology at its Rhyll weather station where winds gusted to as much as 50km/h but nothing like the storm which hit the other side of Phillip Island last Sunday evening.
A similar storm front hit Geelong half an hour earlier with flash flooding, hail and wind damage, and widespread power outages with callouts to more than 90 trees coming down across the city.
Emergency Vic put out a warning about the potential for damaging thunderstorms during the afternoon last Sunday, nominating the central zone including Phillip Island and also parts of Bass Coast and South Gippsland.
The BOM radar tracked the part of several intense storm cells during the evening, many of them turning a dark shade of purple as they crossed Phillip Island, going from north-west to east.
