Winter weather over the past month caused some work for Kalbarri SES with several storm damage callouts. Fortunately no serious damage was caused and most importantly no one was injured. WE also were kept very busy with the Kalbarri Canoe & Cray Carnival.
Operations attended in May-June 2018:
Storm damage in Kalbarri
Over night on May 24/25 a cold front crossed the WA coast bringing heavy rain and strong winds to the south west of the state. Fortunately Kalbarri missed the brunt of the weather system but still had some rain and wind. SES volunteers were up early on the morning of May 25 attending two jobs in central Kalbarri involving clearing away fibre cement fences that had been blown over in the wind and were causing a hazard to the occupants of the houses involved.
Storm damage in Northampton
On June 5 Kalbarri SES volunteers travelled to Northampton and attended a house that had been de-roofed during a storm on March 4. The temporary repairs consisting of tarpaulins and ropes that had been fitted by Kalbarri SES on the day of the storm had loosened allowing water ingress. The repairs were reinforced to prevent any further damage to the premises.
Training:
3 Kalbarri SES volunteers attended a Field Radio Operations course in Carnarvon on May 26 & 27. This course equipped those attending with the skills to operate and control radio networks used during an operation.
Community Engagement:
Kalbarri Canoe and Cray Carnival:
As always, Kalbarri SES played a big role in providing organisation and logistics for the highly successful Kalbarri Canoe and Cray Carnival held over the weekend of June 2 & 3. SES volunteers were involved in the management committee for the event over the past 12 months. On Friday June 1 we spent most of the day setting up tents, lighting, fire pits, firewood, fencing and equipment on the Kalbarri foreshore before attending the Pirate Theme Night at Gilgai Tavern in the evening.
On Saturday volunteers were up early and on their way out to the Gorges where they spent the morning providing marshalling and safety for the Adventurethon running event. We then spent the afternoon completing similar duties at Murchison House Station for the cycling event. Sunday morning was another early start with 2 crews of volunteers launching the Flood Boat and the inflatable dinghy to provide safety vessels for the Murchison Dash canoe event.
Later in the morning these crews were also involved in the highlight of the carnival when 2 SES volunteers acting as pirates, kidnapped a school teacher and forced him to walk the plank.
The afternoon saw SES volunteers marshalling the street parade before heading off to the coastal cliffs to perform safety officer roles for the Adveturethon Bigurda Run.
The weather over the two days of the Carnival was perfect with warm windless days. Monday, clean up day, saw this change with rain coming in. SES volunteers spent the morning dis-assembling the tents and equipment and re-erecting tents etc.under cover to dry out before storing everything away for next year.
Overall, though the carnival requires lots of work over a long period, all involved felt that it was well worth the effort and are keen to start working towards next years carnival.
