SEVEN Hamilton State Emergency Services (SES) Unit members were deployed to Gippsland this week to assist with major storm and floods that temporarily crippled the area.

The SES members provided support to Gippsland communities in incident management, boat rescue, land-based swift water rescue and chainsaw tree clearing.

There were up to 250mm of rain in some parts of Gippsland, prompting Victoria SES (VICSES) to reinforce its safety message to never drive in floodwater.

Hamilton SES Unit Controller, John McKenzie said he put the call out to unit members who had specialist qualifications in the areas required to join the Gippsland relief efforts.

“Essentially the call went out for extra members to go to Gippsland to assist with the event over there - seven members from Hamilton went for four days in total,” he said.

“We had a large crew with many support efforts which was great.

“We were looking for roof-top operators, rescue boat, chainsaw, incident management, and land-based swift water rescue operators.

“It was a very unique experience, the local communities over there were very welcoming to us - some towns hadn’t seen people for days.

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