General News
5 March, 2026
Storm swamps Dimboola: SES crews tested by flash storm
WITH huge amounts of rain falling over the weekend, most of it on Friday early evening last week, Dimboola had to cope with a sudden influx of water everywhere and multiple trees down from the winds, putting local SES crews to the tes
Residents recorded between 59 and 85 millimetres of rainfall up until Monday, and the main storm delivered a narrow cell of damaging winds and heavy rain.
Some locals had to deal with a short power outage, but those who had fallen trees and water dripping – or running – where it wasn’t supposed to were worse off.
Dimboola SES unit controller, Caleb Baldock, said the number of calls was far more than he would normally deal with.
“We actually topped the Wimmera dispatch for call outs with nine storm-related, and then we had one RCR (road crash rescue) recovery the next day on the Saturday morning (with Horsham),” he said.
“Nine RFAs (request for assistance) – two for building damage, rooftop repairs, and the balance of that was trees and things that had blown down, creating traffic hazards and various property damage.
“Nhill (SES) assisted us with three of those calls.”
Caleb said the rainfall was unprecedented.
“That's more than what I've seen in the long haul, my lifetime, in one hit anyway,” he said.
He added he was very pleased with the work of his crew dealing with the situations, including two members who hadn’t yet seen a “flood and storm sort of job”.
“We worked through it, and we got through them,” Caleb said.
“They were on the job from 6pm (when) the first call out came in, and we had it done by 9.30, 10 o'clock.”
He acknowledged how busy it had been.
“We usually get about 25 jobs for the year, not 10 in one night,” he said.
For any non life-threatening storm or flood damage the number for the SES is 132 500 – for life-threatening emergencies the number is always 000.
The Vic Emergency app on your phone is an essential tool to help keep abreast of ongoing changes and warnings to the region, everything from fire to extreme weather and road accidents.
Members of the public are encouraged to join the SES as a volunteer – the website is www.ses.vic.gov.au/join-us