The campers, who did not wish to be named, were staying close to the large Norfolk pine tree on January 1 when one of the upper boughs snapped and fell part-way down the tree.

Management was alerted to the incident, however no action was taken.

A spokesman for Warrnambool City Council, which manages the caravan park, said park management was "unable to confirm" there was a loose branch at the time, and that was why no action was taken. But one camper said the branch was clearly discernible.

In the early hours of the next morning, January 2, five or six more large boughs snapped and fell through the tree. Fortunately no people or vehicles were under the tree at the time.

Later on the morning of January 2 park management cordoned off the area using witches hats.

"An arborist attended that day," the council spokesperson said.

"Their advice was that the loss of branches was likely due to the recent humidity and that no immediate remedial action was required for the tree."

The council said management had offered the campers relocation to other sites and even refunds.

The arborist returned to the site on January 5 to clear the broken branches and test the safety of the remaining boughs.

The campers also complained that the caravan park, which has more than 1000 sites, doesn't have any facilities for caravans to dispose of their greywater.

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Modern caravans generally have shower, clothes and dishwashing facilities, producing hundreds of litres of greywater, which has led to many caravan parks installing dedicated "sullage points" in recent years.

Warrnambool's council-run caravan parks haven't installed such sites despite their considerable size.

A spokesperson for council said there was "the potential for dedicated infrastructure to be put in place for greywater in the future, however, at present, if you choose to generate greywater it is up to you to manage and dispose of it in an appropriate way that doesn't impact your fellow campers."

At least one group of campers had resorted to digging a hole at their campsite to dispose of greywater, creating a potential hazard.

The spokesman said Surfside had its own shower, laundry and cooking facilities, suggesting if campers were worried about producing excess greywater they could use the park facilities.

Well over 100 campsites have been vacated in recent days as campers decided to cut their stays short to avoid a growing COVID-19 outbreak in the council's caravan parks.

There have been 121 refund requests out of a total of around 2400 bookings, the majority of which have been campers deciding to leave earlier than planned.

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