The Tamworth region was torn apart by wild winds on Thursday evening as a brief but violent storm tore rooves of houses, fell trees, relocated sheds and trampolines and left thousands without power.
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The storm, which hit at about 7pm, only lasted about 20 minutes, although the damage will take months to repair according to SES Deputy Region Controller Heath Stimson.
While Sydney and the Central Coast were battered with cricket ball sized hailstones and heavy rain, the inland was mostly just lashed with wind, with Tamworth and Narrabri copping the worst of it.
“We have had 250 call-outs in the Western Zone, and 160 of them in the Tamworth region,” Mr Stimson said.
“We have had 12 rooves off houses, five at Edgeroi alone, and the roof was lifted off the Pilliga Pub.”
Over 50 SES volunteers throughout the region are facing at least a few days of work ahead of them, while a ‘spontaneous volunteer call-out’ was issued on Friday morning to help fill sandbags at the Tamworth headquarters.
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South Tamworth residents Debbie and Steve McClenahan thought lightning had struck their Morrilla Street home, until it quickly struck another three times.
That sound was a sturdy built bird aviary which had been picked up on Warwick Road and deposited on their house some one hundred metres away.
On Friday morning a crew from the Armidale SES were patching three big holes in their tile roof, as well as the neighbours, with the shed still wedged between the two.
“It was a massive bang, but when it hit three times I knew it wasn’t lightning,” Mrs McClenahan said.
“It didn’t just break the tiles either, it also broke the beams – we have been here for 15 years and have never seen anything like this.”
There were also several incidents reported of trampolines being picked up and causing major damage.
Mr Stimson urged anyone impacted to be patient and use 132500 to report damage.
“There has been 2000 call-out across the state, so people just have to be patient and persevere – our people will get to you in the next few days,” he said.
