Boy, 4, among three killed by fallen trees in Melbourne storm

dorian · Guru

Boy, 4, among three killed by fallen trees in Melbourne storm

Mike Harding · Guru

Poor little chap... and family :(

It's just the roll of the dice... I'm currently camped under a very large branch of a very large river redgum tree because it's the only place to locate a caravan at this campsite.

All we can do is hope we and ours get through the day - it's not something worth dwelling upon, what will be... will be.

Mobi Condo · Guru

Oh! How terrible for the lad if he was not instantly killed and for his family. So sad and just adding more misery for those folks in these dour (Sp?) times.

Yes, Widow Makers as Forest workers named them are really sudden death. We heard a very loud bang / crack / rifle shot sound one day, by the time we looked to see what was the cause, the huge branch was on the ground, like INSTANT tonne or two of red gum just 10 metres from us as we chatted in a group.

That was on a calm, humid sunny day along the Murray River south of Swan Reach.

Cheers - Ian

Magnarc · Guru

Dorian, that post brought back memories for me. Many years ago we had a 16ft Ultralite and always parked where there was some shade until the day when, camped alongside the Murrumbidgee, the bloke a bit further along the bank packed up and left. I thought that his spot was more level than mine so moved into it. That same evening we were sitting by the fire when a branch off the tree we were under came down. This was roughly a foot thick and would have possibly killed us, certainly the van would have been crushed to nothing. I learned a valuable lesson that day.

Would not happen to us today because we need clear air for the satellite and solar. That little lad was just wrong place wrong time and I feel for his family.

dorian · Guru

You need shade from the hot sun in summer, but you need direct sunlight for your solar panels. So what do you do? Do you look for trees which are known to be safe? Do you park in the sun and run your air-conditioning? Is this where portable solar panels are handy?

SouthernComfort · Guru

Yes, 3 people died in the storm last night including the little 4y/o. Gum trees down everywhere. Now a drinking water contamination alert for 88 metro area suburbs due to damage at Silvan Dam.

Seems the devil and all his mates have their collective hooves on us at the moment!

-- Edited by SouthernComfort on Friday 28th of August 2020 11:33:11 AM

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

So sad ! Seems when your number is up ? Weve cleared tree for these poor people !! Was at the Dural tragedy a few years ago . This brings back terrible feelings !!!

Chris61 · Senior Member

Mike Harding wrote:
It's just the roll of the dice... I'm currently camped under a very large branch of a very large river redgum tree because it's the only place to locate a caravan at this campsite.

Its all about loading the dice in your favour, me personally, I choose to not take the risk. Its a bit like overtaking on a blind corner, you can do it and all is good, but that one time

Mike Harding · Guru

Chris61 wrote:
Mike Harding wrote:
It's just the roll of the dice... I'm currently camped under a very large branch of a very large river redgum tree because it's the only place to locate a caravan at this campsite.
Its all about loading the dice in your favour, me personally, I choose to not take the risk. Its a bit like overtaking on a blind corner, you can do it and all is good, but that one time

I'd say it's about assessing the odds.

River red gumtrees live for between 500 and 1000 years so if we assume this chap is 500 years old and I'm here for six weeks then the odds of that branch falling are 4167:1 against. Those are probably better odds than many drivers have on each journey.

One should not spend life worrying about what *may* happen - far too much risk aversion these days.

dogbox · Guru

Mike Harding wrote:

Chris61 wrote:
Mike Harding wrote:
It's just the roll of the dice... I'm currently camped under a very large branch of a very large river redgum tree because it's the only place to locate a caravan at this campsite.
Its all about loading the dice in your favour, me personally, I choose to not take the risk. Its a bit like overtaking on a blind corner, you can do it and all is good, but that one time
I'd say it's about assessing the odds.
River red gumtrees live for between 500 and 1000 years so if we assume this chap is 500 years old and I'm here for six weeks then the odds of that branch falling are 4167:1 against. Those are probably better odds than many drivers have on each journey.
One should not spend life worrying about what *may* happen - far too much risk aversion these days.

if the risk is known and /or obvious would one not do their best to avoid the risk or at least minimize it ?

kind of like the lottery if you don't buy a ticket no chance then chances increase the more tickets you buy