Hepburn Shire Council, Media Release, 18 January 2022

Hepburn Shire Council is continuing to support recovery efforts in the community following a thunderstorm that damaged homes and property in and around Creswick and Clunes on 5 January.

Mayor, Cr Tim Drylie, said the clean-up work will likely take months.

“The intensity of this storm caused widespread damage to homes, farms and public land in the west of our Shire. Our preliminary estimates are around $10 million of damage to Council assets alone, and around $25 million damage to crops,” said Cr Drylie.

“Our teams have conducted 370 secondary impact assessments, where they visit individual properties to understand the damage and share information with householders about available support,” he said.

“We understand close to 150 homes were damaged in the storm, which includes 35 partially destroyed or uninhabitable. And that’s only the ones we know about. We encourage people to get in touch with our Storm Recovery Team on (03) 4373 7373 so the damage can be registered, which may assist with ongoing support.

“Our Storm Recovery Team can also put people in touch with financial, emotional and logistical assistance, which can be incredibly helpful following a disaster such as this,” he said.

Some residents reported up to 240mm of rain in a few hours, along with significant amounts of hail.

“Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the storm and subsequent flooding. There is support available so please contact our Storm Recovery Team or let us know if there is someone you know of who needs some additional support,” said Cr Drylie.

To support impacted residents Council has created a Recovery Centre at the Creswick Town Hall on Albert Street, which is open weekdays.

“We are offering free green and general waste drop off for people impacted by the storm at our Creswick Transfer Station until 5pm on Monday 24 January.

For those unable to get to the Transfer Station Council is also anticipating further hard rubbish collection, so Creswick residents are able to leave storm-related waste on the nature strip for collection.

Hepburn Shire Council is collaborating with Moorabool Council and City of Ballarat to support impacted farmers in the Dean area.

Council has met with state and federal government representatives to lobby for ongoing support and has been advised that funding will be available through Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

Surveillance crews are inspecting roads and culverts throughout storm impacted areas with additional clean up works prioritised.

Council will also be working with the community and stakeholder groups to gather information about the causes and nature of the damage. This will support Council to better plan and mitigate against future storm events and may inform climate change adaptation strategies.