Woman killed in fatal Gold Coast storm, M1 littered with trees and barriers smashed through
A woman killed by a tree in the ‘unprecedented’ cyclonic storm that smashed the Gold Coast this week was a bakery worker described as a “lovely lady”. VIDEO WRAP
Gold Coast
Don't miss out on the headlines from Gold Coast. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A Gold Coast woman has been killed by a falling tree after the city was blasted by a cyclonic Christmas storm, trapping people in homes, sending a shed flying and uprooting trees.
A 59-year-old Helensvale woman died despite desperate efforts of paramedics trying to save her in the midst of the weather bomb. She was struck by part of a falling tree at around 9:30pm Monday, emergency services confirmed.
Queensland Ambulance Service’s Gold Coast Assistant Commissioner Andrew Hebbron said the woman had been walking outside her home when a large branch from a falling tree struck her.
It’s understood the woman Robyn Carman was just hundreds of metres from her home when she was killed, having abandoned her car nearby.
Emergency services were called to a Discovery Drive home at Helensvale around 9.30pm following reports of a fallen tree that had landed on her.
It is understood her car had broken down nearby and she was making the short walk home but died less than 500 metres from her own front door.
Ms Carman, who lived with her sister, has been described as “a lovely lady” who worked at a local bakery.
Residents in the area recalled seeing police cars attending the Helensvale property on Monday night to notify Ms Carman’s devastated relatives.
Neighbours were shocked to hear of her death, calling her a lovely lady.
A Queensland Ambulance spokesman said multiple paramedics attended the scene. Paramedics assessed and treated a female patient with critical injuries and attempted to resuscitate her but she died at the scene.
Mr Hebbron, reflecting on efforts to save Ms Carman, said: “Our hearts absolutely go out to the family of a 59-year-old female patient who died last night. She sustained critical injuries and unfortunately passed away.
“Paramedics did everything they possibly could. There were some really challenging circumstances in that job.
“There was torrential rain, the storms were still going on. There was downed trees and foliage.”
Mr Hebbron said calls to QAS surged “within a very short period of time” as the storm hit on Monday night, including for injury callouts due to ceiling collapses and falling trees.
Premier Steven Miles paid tribute to the deceased woman.
“(Monday night’s) storms in the southeast were devastating, some of the worst many locals have ever seen,” he said.
“I’m particularly saddened to hear of the death of a woman on the Gold Coast, my thoughts are with her family in this tragic time.
“Right now, more than 130,000 homes and businesses are without power. Energex crews are working to restore services but it is absolutely critical that we leave this work to the experts.”
TRAVEL CHAOS
A number of road across the Gold Coast have been significantly impacted by fallen trees and hazardous debris.
The Bulletin understands all lanes within a 40km stretch of the M1 between the Gold Coast and Brisbane were impacted with traffic slowing to a crawl of 15km/h.
Road users speaking to The Bulletin said safety barriers on both sides of the M1 have sustained significantly damaged, with large trees at risk of falling hanging over the road.
A northbound lane on Southport Burleigh Rd has been partially blocked between Varsity Lakes and Mermaid Waters after three trees fell onto the road. Another tree on Hospital Blvd has partially blocked traffic around the Gold Coast University Hospital.
POWER OUTTAGES, PHONE TOWERS DAMAGED
Telecommunication towers in the city’s north have been damaged, leaving the system overloaded and with poor internet coverage.
Council’s disaster management team has been put on stand-by.
Gold Coasters particularly in the city’s north are being told not to expect power to return to for days. One Gold Coast resident has told the Bulletin they have been given a timeline of December 30 whilst another said they were told not to be surprised if it took until New Year’s Eve for power to be restored.
Residents are throwing out food from their fridges and freezers - and resorting to camping equipment and bbqs to rustle up a feed.
Mayor Tom Tate said the wind-speeds recorded on Christmas night were the equivalent of a category-two cyclone.
“We are expecting more rain but the SES have done a marvelous job,” he said.
“It’s the wind that has been playing havoc. We have power lines down, there’s going to be a couple of days of work there to rectify.”
Mr Tate warned Gold Coasters to conserve water, with more than 200 houses in the city’s south cut off from the town water supply.
“We have problem with that. Even though it is raining, the message for the southern Gold Coast is, conserve water, don’t go out and wash your driveway if you have water. This is a major problem.
“We have calls in to the (Queensland Reconstruction Authority) for personal hardship payments to get them accelerated so people can start putting claims in.”
All the city’s beaches are open, with no erosion recorded.
Queensland Police Service Inspector Nick Sellars said the woman who died was killed on Discovery Drive.
“Our condolences go out to her family.”
Insp Sellars urged motorists to delay travel or stay off roads unless necessary while debris and damage was cleared.
He said emergency services were being delayed by heavy traffic on the city’s roads.
Ergon Energy’s Mitchum McGuire said more than two million lightning strikes were recorded on the Gold Coast during the storm.
He said concrete transmission towers were snapped in half by the winds, with warnings power may not be restored to some houses for a number of days, confirmed by residents in the city’s north.
“This has been a massive event, probably the single largest event we have seen on the Gold Coast in more than 20 years,” he said.
“There is a significant amount of damage and old gum trees which have come down.
“We are really having trouble accessing some of the network.”
BURLEIGH CRANE COLLAPSE
A crane at a Burleigh development site has also collapsed described by witnesses as “pretty scary” and something that sounded like a plane landing.
Emergency services were called to the site around 9:25pm to reports a crane had tipped and folded.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services were inundated with “hundreds” of calls Christmas night across the city with crews and communication staff working all night to respond.
As of 10am Tuesday morning, more than 82,821 properties across the southeast, many of which are on the Gold Coast, remained without power 12 hours after the wild weather.
Among those worst affected are Biggera Waters, where more than 3600 houses remained in the dark, along with 1145 in Benowa and just over 1000 in Arundel.
The coastal strip of Southport, Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach and Burleigh remains relatively unaffected.
The Esplanade at Burleigh Heads was closed between 1st and 2nd avenues after a crane on Vitale Group’s Mondrian towers was damaged and collapsed during the storm.
THEME PARKS SHUT DOWN, HOMES DESTROYED
Dreamworld, Wet’n’Wild, Top Golf, Paradise Country and Warner Bros Movie World were forced to close on Tuesday, with the latter park reporting “severe storm damage”.
Sea World will operate as normal.
Meanwhile, a number of homes between Jimboomba, Helensvale and Upper Coomera have been left “uninhabitable” after the flash storm Monday night.
A QFES spokeswoman said: “Lots of houses were completely caved in and are now completely uninhabitable. QFES will be conducting damage assessments this morning along with Gold Coast City Council and Energex. We also sustained a couple of building fires including a petrol station at Laidley.”
The spokeswoman said emergency services struggled to keep up with the number of calls coming through overnight.
Oxenford resident Graciela Castle said the storm was “terrifying”.
“I was in my bedroom down low on the floor waiting for it to pass,” she said.
“I have never seen anything like this in my life. Everything has been damaged. A tree has come down on the house. My son’s granny flat has lost the roof.
“I’m just happy that me and the family, children next door are OK.
“Everyone was out last night clearing the road and helping each other, doing what we can.”
James Gray said: “Our sheds got picked up and thrown like they were paper, 60m from backyard to the road”.
Bilinga resident Lynne Moore added “Wild storm rearranged furniture on balcony.”
Another Bulletin reader Debra Wellings-Crawford posted on Monday night she was trapped inside her home “as powerlines are down outside our front door”.
Helensvale’s Stephen Eltringham said he was dealing with a “branch through the bedroom roof and ceiling”.
Others reported a wild lightning show striking across the city and lighting up the Christmas night.
More Coverage
Originally published as Woman killed in fatal Gold Coast storm, M1 littered with trees and barriers smashed through
Join the conversation
Fire to burn for days in Gold Coast bushland
Nearly a dozen fire crews have worked late into the night to contain a blaze in bushland on the northern Gold Coast. Read the latest update.
Read more
Grim figures show cost of lost tourism to Gold Coast
Figures have revealed just how much weak international tourism is costing the Gold Coast amid concern about a loss of routes at the city’s airport. SEE THE FIGURES
Read more