In his 95 years of living at Mulla Mulla Creek, Brian Skerrett has never seen anything like the tornado-like winds that devastated his property on Saturday night.
The back part of his house was blown away, while he estimates more than a hundred big trees have been uprooted across his property, which is located north-east of Dungowan, near the jackaroo school.
“It looks like a bomb went off,” Mr Skerrett said.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like a tornado went through the place.
“It just devastated everything. The bigger the tree, the more it blew it over.”
The back section of the house was “completely demolished” by the whirlwind that “came out of the blue”.
“It looks like it was run over by a bulldozer,” Mr Skerrett said.
“The back part of the house just took off. It was terrifying. There were trees crashing everywhere and there was nothing I could do.”
Mr Skerrett is counting his lucky stars that one massive tree right next to his house didn’t cave to the ferocious winds.
“That big tree nearly came over – if it did, it would have completely squashed the entire house,” he said.
A number of Mr Skerrett’s sheds also lost their rooves. He only just got his phone line and power back, and is waiting for his insurance company representative to come assess the damage.
“We’re not sure if we pull the whole thing down and rebuild it, or just repair the damage,” Mr Skerrett said.
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On Monday, Essential Energy crews finished repairing the damage of the massive storm that rolled across the region last Thursday, which caused 60,000 homes and businesses to loss power.
Essential Energy was forced to call in repair crews from all corners of the state, from Moree through to Queanbeyan.
The Tamworth local government area was declared a disaster zone on Saturday, while hundreds of homes across the North West were left without power for days.
The SES said there were 230 calls for assistance following the storms; 155 in Tamworth alone.
Hillvue, South Tamworth and Kootingal were among the hardest hit areas.
Jamieson Murphy
Newcastle Herald news director. Interested in any and all yarns. Whisper g'day mate to me at jamieson.murphy@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Newcastle Herald news director. Interested in any and all yarns. Whisper g'day mate to me at jamieson.murphy@austcommunitymedia.com.au
