COUNCIL workers are still working through a backlog of downed trees eight days after strong winds ripped through Bendigo and surrounds.
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Wind gusts of up to 90km/hour last week left the council with 300 calls from the public for trees and branches falling across roads, paths and on public land, the City of Greater Bendigo's Paul Gangell said.
"We've dealt with the high risk ones like branches hanging in trees or on fences," he said.
"We probably have about 50 or so still outstanding, which have a lower level of risk, like branches lying on the sides of roads or in reserves."
A number of trees also dropped limbs in strong winds earlier this week, though Mr Gangell said not all were reported by the public.
Subcontractors have been brought in to help with the backlog, which is expected to be cleared early next week.
Last week's winds fueled blazes that erupted across the region as the Victoria experienced its first code red fire danger day in nine years.
At the height of the extreme weather, 22,000 homes and businesses in central Victoria experienced power outages. Powercor said that was caused by 157 faults triggered by downed lines and debris damaging other assets.
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Bendigo council workers were among those helping Powercor secure downed lines and Mr Gangell said he was grateful no-one was injured as they worked to protect the public.
While the scale of damage was "unusual" for a Bendigo storm, Thursday's winds were not the most destructive Mr Gengell had seen during his time with the council.
It has dealt with up to 400 downed trees or branches reported by the public after previous extreme weather, he said.
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