SES forced to stop responding to calls for hours due to ‘incredibly dangerous conditions’

The SES was forced to stop responding to non-life threatening call outs for several hours during the height of the storm last night because “incredibly dangerous conditions” made it too risky to continue.

An SES vehicle was crushed by a tree in Emerald and a MICA paramedic vehicle was also crushed in Sherbrooke.

Thankfully, no SES volunteers or paramedics have been seriously injured.

Victorian SES spoksperson, Jamie Devenish, says the night is “going to break some records” for SES callouts.

There were 4800 call outs in the 24 hours to 10am.

“Trees down is the number one thing we’re responding to,” Mr Devenish told Neil Mitchell.

“Over 500 of those have resulted in building damage, either they’ve fallen onto a home or they’ve damaged a roof.”

Dangerous conditions meant the SES stopped responding to non-life threatening calls for for “two or three” hours overnight.

“A stop was required to be put on responses for a while when those gale force winds … just became too strong for a while,” Mr Devenish said.

The SES says flooding is “really where our focus shifts for the rest of the week”.

Press PLAY below for more details on SES call outs overnight