MELBOURNE’S bayside suburbs were lashed by a fierce wind storm on Tuesday that damaged homes, cut power supplies and created havoc for commuters as train services were suspended and major roads shut. Dozens of trees and power lines were brought down by wind gusts of up to 122km/h as an icy storm front passed across the state’s south-east. Emergency services were stretched to the limit clearing roads, rail lines and homes from fallen trees, branches and other debris, while police were kept busy responding to chaos on the roads, especially after fallen power lines forced the closure of the Nepean…
Author: Chris Brennan
KINGSTON property owners will have to fork out an average of about $70 extra on their rates next year, with council proposing a “moderate” 4.25 per cent annual rate rise under its 2014-15 draft budget. The council has affirmed its commitment to keeping rate rises to “a minimum” in order to deliver “solid value for money” to ratepayers during the current tough economic climate. While well above the inflation rate, which stands at 2.9 per cent, Kingston’s proposed rate rise is lower than that of surrounding municipalities, which have pencilled in increases of between 5 and 6 per cent, and…
AS the rate of homelessness continues to climb, Frankston Council is being urged to provide a designated “safe area” where people with nowhere to live can sleep over night. A letter sent to Frankston councillors proposes using Crown land next to Seaford Beach Caravan Park to allow homeless people to sleep with “some degree of safety and protection”. The council recently alerted the caravan park operator the lease on Crown land on which about 20 cabins are located would not be renewed, with a car park planned for the site. Frankston Council’s acting chief executive Gillian Kay told residents that…
EXCESSIVE speed and alcohol are suspected to have been behind a serious car crash in Carrum Downs that left two men fighting for their lives in hospital after the car they were travelling in slammed into a telegraph pole last Sunday night. Police attending the crash scene described the injuries suffered by the 31-year-old driver and his passenger as “shocking”. The crash occurred on Frankston Gardens Drive in the industrial area of Carrum Downs about 11.40pm when their vehicle veered out of control and crashed into a concrete power pole. Both men were airlifted to The Alfred hospital where they…
NINE people were seriously injured – including a young man who remains in a critical condition – in a horror day on Frankston roads on Wednesday. Six vehicles were involved in two separate accidents at Seaford and Langwarrin in wet conditions on Wednesday evening. Two people taken to The Alfred hospital by helicopter in critical conditions while a further seven victims were transported by ambulance to Frankston Hospital suffering serious injuries. A third accident on Monday evening involving an out-of-control semi-trailer resulted in a further two people being seriously injured, taking the injury toll on Frankston roads to 11 in…