General News
12 February, 2019
Wild weather strikes
STORMS, flooding and fires – the south west had it all last Wednesday.
STORMS, flooding and fires – the south west had it all last Wednesday.
After weeks of sustained high temperatures and little rain, last week’s downpour was welcome relief.
A total of 21.4mm of rain fell in the 24 hour period, which was more than six times the amount received in January.
The rain was coupled with a thunder and lightning storm which was responsible for a number of fires across the district including Elingamite North, Pomborneit and Garvoc.
District 6 operations manager Dean Manson said local brigades were called to a grass and scrub fire at Elingamite North at about 5.40pm.
He said Dixie, Cobden, Elingamite and Cobrico units attended the fire.
“It was only pretty small,” Mr Manson said.
“It was believed to be ignited by lightning strikes. We had a number of fires start across the district.”
He said the rainfall helped extinguish the fire.
However, Mr Manson warned residents to take precautions to prevent fires in the region.
“It’s exceptionally dry at the moment; that little amount of rain we got won’t do much,” he said.
“If you look at the colour of the grass around Cobden, there’s a lot of fuel around.”