UPDATED: A FEROCIOUS storm has lashed the Gunnedah Shire, bringing wild winds, hail and lightning that left a trail of destruction in its wake.
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Winds of up to 106km/hr yesterday afternoon brought down dozens of trees which cut
the Kamilaroi Highway south of Curlewis, along with many roads and the rail line at Gunnedah.
More than 11,000 households across the New England north-west area lost power, with hundreds in the Gunnedah area still without power this morning.
Garden sheds were twisted and tossed into fences and neighbours’ yards, while trampolines could be seen tumbling across the town – one of which travelled more than 500 metres along Wandobah Road.
At least seven trampolines were thrown onto the rail track, which was closed for 45 minutes between the coal loader on the Boggabri Road and Curlewis with trains waiting at both ends.
The State Emergency Service (SES) helped remove them off the line as well as other debris, with the help of the Australian Rail Track Corporation.
The SES has received over 30 calls for help in Gunnedah when the storm struck at 5.40pm yesterday, including seven jobs where tree limbs had fallen onto roofs in Bando, King and Short streets.
A giant tree was uprooted on Wandobah Road and fell across two backyards, flattening a fence and garden shed, while cars were also damaged from falling tree limbs.
SES Gunnedah controller Sharon Howett said the intense storm, which lasted for 20 minutes, was the worst she’d seen in the 20 years of SES service, especially the wind gusts.
“A lot of people have said they thought they saw a funnel forming as it came over town,” she said.
“There were also reports of hail from the size of a fingernail to a five cent piece.
“There’s a lot of tree damage. The majority is tree damage and all of the other damage was caused from flying debris,” Ms Howett said.
Officer in charge at the Moree branch of the Bureau of Meteorology Michael Glasson said wind gusts reached 106km an hour at Gunnedah airport at 5.35pm.
He said Gunnedah and Tamworth appeared to have borne the brunt of the wind, with other areas reporting heavy rain in various areas.
Gunnedah reported 20mm of rain.
Fire and Rescue NSW Deputy Captain Glenn Swift said crews were called out to a home in Acacia Street where part of the roof had lifted off.
The crews also attended a report of “arcing” powerlines in Lincoln street, an asbestos fence blown over in Railway
Avenue, and an automatic fire alarm at the Gunnedah Rural Health Centre.
“Considering what the conditions were, it could have been a lot worse,” Deputy Captain Swift said.
In Jaeger Avenue, Tom Stockwell saw the roof of his neighbour’s garden shed land in his backyard. It had damaged the fence before being tossed over the top of his greenhouse.
“I was shocked. The wind was blowing hard,” Mr Stockwell said.
“I’ve lived in this house since 1971 and this is the worst storm I’ve seen in the time I’ve lived here.”
Three crews from Gunnedah SES worked through until 11.30pm to respond to calls for help, with assistance from two Tambar Springs SES crews.
Gunnedah volunteers were back on the job today while a crew of four has been despatched to Tamworth to help with the city’s clean up.
There were more than 100 calls for assistance across the Namoi region.
About 500 Gunnedah Shire households were still without power this morning.
Essential Energy’s regional general manager Ben Williams said the storms first impacted the power network at 5.26pm in Gunnedah and the effects of the storms continued to cause problems late into the night.
“Over 2600 households and business in the Gunnedah area were affected by unplanned power interruptions due to the storm,” Mr Williams said.
The three largest unplanned power interruptions in Gunnedah area were in the Pullaming area with 285 households and business affected at 5.26pm and 1230 in Gunnedah itself at 5.31pm, followed by a further 892 in Gunnedah at 6.48pm.
“Our crews worked as quickly as safety would allow and had power restored to most customers in Gunnedah itself, including the central business district, within 50 minutes,” Mr Williams said.
“The storms caused significant damage to the power network in the Gunnedah area, which included the need to replace four power poles with one of these being destroyed by lightning.”
Essential Energy remained busy in the wider Gunnedah area today with crews continuing to work as quickly as possible to restore power to the 500 households and businesses that were not able to be restored overnight.
Gunnedah Shire Council is also faced with a significant clean-up, with council manager of parks and gardens Geoff Phillips saying the crews are “combing the shire street by street removing fallen vegetation and debris”.
“At this early time, crews are focused on removing debris from streets and footpaths to ensure residents have safe passage in and around the community,” Mr Phillips said.
“Council has received only a few reports of major incidents of fallen trees and branches, namely at Anzac Park and the Memorial Lawn Cemetery. Fortunately, there has been no significant damage to infrastructure or persons’ safety reported.”
Mr Phillips said residents should report fallen vegetation and debris on public land to council’s customer service team on 6740 2100, or the SES on 132 500 if there was immediate danger or urgent action was needed.
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WIDESPREAD power outages and reports of trees down as a wild storm lashes the Gunnedah Shire.
There has also been reports of strong winds, hail, lightning and dust storms.
Send in your storm photos to ashley.gardner@fairfaxmedia.com.au
