More than 50 fallen trees cleared from roads during storms last week

Ararat Rural City Council staff cleared more than 50 fallen trees from roads across the municipality last week after a storm Wednesday night.

Council CEO Dr Tim Harrison said a wet winter and saturated grounds paired with the heavy winds of last week saw many trees fall over roads.

Dr Harrison said a crew of staff spent much of Wednesday night clearing trees and closing roads where necessary before making the road safe for vehicles.

“Council staff were really grateful to some local farmers along Toora Road who helped clean up by using their machinery to push trees off roads and using their utes’ hazard lights to warn traffic of the hazards ahead,” he said.

“This allowed vehicles to cut through paddocks to get through where they otherwise would have been held up for hours. We thank everyone who pitched in to help, it was really fantastic.”

Dr Harrison said that from Wednesday, Council staff had cleared more than 50 trees with more falling each day with continued wind and rain.

He said the community might not realise that clearing fallen trees from roads was an emergency response task conducted by the Council.

“We are very keen to ensure the safety of all our roads and our crews are on stand-by to do this work whenever needed.”