Elsie Lange
Twenty-six more Victorian State Emergency Services (VICSES) volunteers have made their way to New South Wales to support flood-affected communities, including local members from Gisborne, Kilmore and Sunbury units.
Andrew Free and Jeff Gamble from Gisborne and Sunbury’s Shona Davie departed over the weekend.
In a Facebook post, SES Sunbury wished Ms Davie all the best on her deployment.
“Thank you Shona for taking the time out of your personal life to assist our counterparts up north,” the post said.
“You’re all incredible for the work you do in keeping our communities safe.”
Gisborne SES also bid farewell and good luck to Mr Free and Mr Gamble, and community members commented their support and gratitude.
“Awesome work guys, stay safe,” one commenter said.
The taskforce will be based in Gosford, north of Sydney on the NSW Central Coast, supporting NSW SES volunteers to respond to calls for assistance in the community related to building damage, fallen trees and other storm and flood damage.
Crews may also work to remove downed trees, undertake temporary roof repairs as well as flood mitigation, such as sandbagging and water diversion. It will be a varied workload depending on the extent of the damage.
The first crews to head to NSW from Victoria departed last Wednesday, with more potentially on the way.
VICSES operations chief officer Tim Wiebusch said he “could not be more proud” of the members heading up the coast to assist as flooding intensifies.
“I also thank their employers and their families at home for enabling them to deploy interstate and provide much needed assistance,” Mr Wiebusch said.
“Although the rain may subsided, we are continuing to see the ongoing impacts the flooding has had in NSW, and so expect our volunteers’ role to be significant. Many of the impacted areas have already seen severe flooding earlier in March and April”.
