The Great Storm (Home and Away)
The Great Storm is a group of four episodes of the Australian soap opera Home and Away, broadcast between 5 and 8 September 2011 on Network Seven, during the show's twenty-fourth season.
Various characters become stranded in different locations while the majority take shelter at Summer Bay High where an evacuation centre is set up.
The characters of Harvey Ryan (Marcus Graham) and Roo Stewart (Georgie Parker) become stranded when their boat capsizes, while Romeo Smith (Luke Mitchell) takes on the role of the "hero" and tries to save lives.
Other segments include the character of Leah Patterson-Baker (Ada Nicodemou) nearly losing her unborn child and the roof collapsing at Summer Bay High leaving the characters of Colleen Smart (Lyn Collingwood), Bianca Scott (Lisa Gormley) and Heath Braxton (Dan Ewing) trapped in the wreckage.
[citation needed] The storyline was not popular with Erin Miller from TV Week who opined that the special effects used ruined many scenes.
In June 2011, the serial's producer Cameron Welsh revealed that Home and Away would air a special week of episodes featuring a storm.
[1] In July, Welsh told entertainment website Digital Spy that there were plans for the "biggest stunt/disaster storyline" that production team had ever undertaken.
In August, Rhiannon Fish who plays April Scott told TV Week that the storyline would focus on a "deadly storm" that crosses the path of Summer Bay.
Fish said that filming of the storyline was "full on" and wind and rain machines were installed on set to create the correct environment.
She also said her character Leah would become trapped inside the Pier Diner and worried about the whereabouts of her son VJ Patterson (Felix Dean).
The main storyline threads feature the characters of Harvey Ryan (Marcus Graham) and Roo Stewart (Georgie Parker) facing danger when their boat capsizes during "rough seas".
[5] Due to heightened set noise from the wind and rain machines, their cast members dialogue could not be heard in initial filming.
[5] When John Palmer (Shane Withington) hears a severe weather warning issued via the local radio, he sends Xavier Austin (David Jones-Roberts) to close the beach down.
Dennis Harling (Daniel Roberts) convinces Harvey and Roo to take his boat out on a business venture with potential clients.
Miles Copeland (Josh Quong Tart) and Gina Austin (Sonia Todd) set up a shelter at Summer Bay High.
Ruby Buckton (Rebecca Breeds) and Casey Braxton (Lincoln Younes) are nearly injured as part of the roof falls behind them.
The promotion revealed that the roof at Summer Bay High would collapse, a car would slip to the edge of a cliff and showed various character battling severe storm conditions.
[14][15][16][17] A columnist from TV Central said that The Great Storm was the Seven Network's "highly anticipated television event" and added that Summer Bay was "hit like never before" compared to previous disaster plots.
While it was "great to see Summer Bay deal with a natural disaster" that created many "tense moments", Miller said that the special effects ruined various scenes.
Their columnist said that the storyline made a "spectacular week" of episodes centered around the "powerful" storm that left "despair and destruction" in its path.
