Windback Wednesday - 2014 storm

Following the damaging wind conditions that swept across the City of Burnside overnight on Sunday 19 March, it seems timely to reflect on a storm of similar severity that occurred in 2014, almost a decade ago!

Similarly to this week’s damaging weather, much of our city (including the Civic Centre) experienced prolonged blackouts during the 2014 storm. Over 800 Customer Requests were received and Council staff worked tirelessly to attend to these. On Monday 20 March 2023, a total of 434 calls were handled by our Customer Service team (a 141 per cent increase), including a total of 218 Customer Requests (a 230 per cent increase). Of this number, 150 Customer Requests were in relation to hazardous events which required an urgent response by Council. It is expected that many more Customer Requests will be received in the coming days.

As a result of the 2014 storm, Council invested in a generator that could be used if a similar event were to happen in the future. This generator was able to power part of the Civic Centre for the entire day on Monday 20 March, servicing the Customer Service, People Experience, Information Management, Information Technology and part of the Communications and Community Engagement teams to ensure the smooth running of Council business as well as allowing Council to keep the community updated on our website and social media. All field staff were out in the community attending to urgent matters.

Pictured is Hazelwood Park in the aftermath of the 2014 storm. Unfortunately, Hazelwood Park was also badly affected this week. Residents are advised to avoid visiting our parks and reserves until our crew is able to ensure they are safe to visit.