Late night hailstorm cuts path of destruction through CBD, Mt Lofty

The weekend’s hailstorm brought trees down across the city and about half of all SES calls for help were too large or too complicated for volunteers and required professional tree loppers with specialised cutting gear

The toowoomba CBD copped a battering in Sunday’s hailstorm.

TOOWOOMBA SES volunteers responded to 31 calls for help in the hours after a wild hailstorm ripped through the city on Sunday morning.

Southwest Region Area Controller Ian Phipps the volunteer crews clocked on at 3am on Sunday and worked through to 4.30pm.

Most of the calls were for help to clear three limbs that had fallen onto homes.

“We helped with 14 of those jobs but the rest were too big and needed expert tree loppers and elevated working platforms,” he said.

The storms brought trees down across the city with the hardest hit areas in the CBD and Mt Lofty.

Mr Phipps said the other common problem was roofs leaking after hail had blocked drain pipes.

“When some of our crews got to those jobs later in the day the hail was still in the drain pipes, frozen solid,” he said.

“I haven’t seen anything like it, it looked like styrofoam.”

Several of the large downed trees remain a threat to homes and businesses and Mr Phipps cautioned affected residents to book a professional tree lopper to clear the broken limbs as soon as possible.

Hail piled up at Grand Central Shopping Centre, causing leaks in the building’s roof. .

“Our volunteers are there to respond to calls for help from private residents, not businesses and we are not there to do storm preparation,” he said.

“That is the homeowner’s responsibility.”

Residents are urged to act now as more storms are due to hit the region later this week.

“Sunday’s storm was not on the radar at all,” Mr Phipps said

“We knew there was the potential for a large storm but nothing like that.

“We just cannot predict what Mother Nature will throw at us.”

Originally published as Late night hailstorm cuts path of destruction through CBD, Mt Lofty