Sarah Cathro, who lives in Wilburtree St, was in Gunnedah when the storm hit and was devastated to find out yesterday a huge gust of wind had lifted the round netted trampoline – for which she had saved for eight months in the lead-up to last Christmas to buy – picked it up out of the backyard and thrown it over three houses, with it landing in the backyard of a home next door to the Motabelle Motel on Goonoo Goonoo Rd. 

Miss Cathro didn’t know the trampoline was missing until the man who found it let her know yesterday morning. 

“There was a knock on the door at 7.30am,” she said. “The man who found the trampoline thought it had been his neighbours’, but theirs was still standing in the back yard.

“It must have been a huge gust to pick it up like it did. It’s a huge shock.”

On its journey over a number of fences, sheds and neighbouring backyards, the trampoline frame began to break up, leaving dents in sheds and ripping the tops off trees. 

Miss Cathro’s mother, Susan Bradbery, said the incident was beyond belief.

“The fact it jumped fences, including one that’s about eight foot, and damaged sheds proves the wind that came with the storm was very unforgiving,” she said. 

The shed in Miss Cathro’s rental property, the garden and the clothesline were also damaged as the storm ripped across the backyard. 

“The clothesline isn’t standing properly upright anymore,” Ms Bradbery said. 

There were other reports of trampolines being carried by the wind during Monday’s storm. 

An elderly woman living in Wahroongha Dr, only a few streets away, watched in horror as a trampoline from a neighbouring home was picked up by the wind and thrown onto her roof.