Shocking damage from Adelaide storm forces Upper Sturt couple to flee home
Houses destroyed, cars crushed … more pictures have emerged of the damage caused by Saturday’s storm, with one street in Upper Sturt absolutely smashed.
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Upper Sturt residents are still reeling from Saturday’s storm, with one couple forced out of their home after a tree smashed through the roof.
Marie Bryce, 74 and husband John, 77, who have lived in their Hadleigh Rise property for over 20 years, were thankfully in the other end of their home when the tree struck their living room during the wild spring storm.
“Out of the blue, the wind picked up gale-force winds, we thought ‘my God, this is really, really bad and that scared us,” Ms Bryce said.
“We were always worried about the trees, especially the ones next to the door – so as the wind picked up to cyclone speeds we could hear the horrendous noise.
“Everything was crashing all around us on the roof of the pergola. At one point, I thought the whole roof is just going to go..”
Once the storms had passed and the weather began to clear, Mrs Bryce remembers being in a state of disbelief, after seeing the damage for the first time. “We went and found all the horrendous damage and it was just devastating,” she said.
The storm is expected to have caused millions of dollars worth of damage with insurance assessors yet to move in to survey the damage.
Major infrastructure was also torn apart, with a large transmission tower that forms part of the power interconnector to Victoria lying on its side at Tailem Bend.
Homeowners were told in the hours after the storm to stop sending solar panel-generated power into the grid but by yesterday the power supply situation had stabilised.
Meanwhile, the storm resulted in one elderly woman moving out of her blacked-out home temporarily.
Lola Curiel, 92, was forced to leave her unit in Pasadena, and spent the night on her daughter’s couch after the storm on Saturday left her without power.
After her husband passed away, she has lived independently in her retirement village unit for the past 18 years.
This is the first time she has had to temporary relocate because of a power outage, which she says is the worst she has experienced.
“Usually, it’s only 10-20 minutes – but nothing ever this serious caused by this kind of weather before,” Mrs Curiel said.
“It was very severe, you could hear the thunder on top of my roof and a lot of rain.
Unbeknown to Mrs Curiel, it would be two days before the power returned.
“I rang my daughter when it happened and let her know that I was in the dark. And then I just waited to see if it was going to come back” Mrs Curiel said.
“In the afternoon, I do some piano practice, crafts or crosswords, but when the power was off, I couldn’t do anything so I had a very early night at home” she said
Neighbours opened her electric garage door manually.
Despite having to leave her unit in a rush, Mrs Curiel believes the power outage was a blessing in disguise, as it gave her the chance to spend quality time with her daughter and son-in-law, Brenton Edgecombe.
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