SES volunteers have had their hands full after storms wreaked havoc in Emerald during the past two weeks, including last Tuesday's 100kmh-plus wind gusts.
SES Emerald unit controller Gerard Kennedy said Tuesday's winds brought down numerous trees in Emerald, Sassafras and Gembrook.
Most of the 80 jobs the unit attended last week were to clear blocked roads. Mr Kennedy said it was lucky that there were only several homes damaged, with no residents forced to relocate.
The unit's 35 volunteers worked by roster long into Tuesday night and all day Wednesday, finishing their work by Thursday morning.
Mr Kennedy had no complaints despite crews having worked long hours on August 14-17 as they cleared 120 jobs, including extricating two people from a car. Most of the storm damage occurred in Belgrave, Upwey and Emerald.
"Most of the volunteers have day or night jobs [outside their SES work]. They're exhausted and hopefully we get some breathing space for a while."
The Narre Warren SES unit attended 54 calls for assistance last week and 149 the week before.
Operations officer Ian Earle said the strong winds ripped roof tiles off houses "and threw them across the road like pieces of paper".
"It was like a war zone in some areas."
Poll result
MORE than 60 per cent of readers believe more could be done to make Victoria safer before the start of the next bushfire season.
Last week, we asked if you believed the State Government and authorities had done enough to clear bushland. Of those responses, 62 per cent said no, and 38 per cent said yes.
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