SES and energy crews hit the ground to restore services to storm-hit Western Sydney
EMERGENCY crews are cleaning up in Sydney’s west after a “mini tornado” ripped through the region yesterday, leaving thousands without power and sending trees crashing on to homes.
NSW
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EMERGENCY services have hit the ground in Whalan after a “mini tornado” ripped through the region yesterday, felling trees and leaving thousands of homes without power.
With more rain forecast later this evening, the SES and power companies are racing to restore services before the wet hampers their efforts or creates further damage.
The western Sydney suburb of Whalan bared the brunt of the damage from yesterday’s storm with a “microburst” of damage concentrated in the area.
The SES responded to more than 972 calls for help, with 230 from the Mt Druitt area — which Whalan is within — as the 15-minute freak storm wreaked havoc.
Emergency crews are today working to repair the damage and remove fallen trees before it begins raining again this afternoon.
The SES has additional workers on standby, with fears that further rain could lead to more damage.
SES spokesman Phil Campbell said most of the damage was from wind blowing down branches and trees, rather than rain, with four rescues performed.
“It’s more chainsaws than buckets this time for the clean up,” Mr Campbell said, adding that
Whalan was the worst hit area.
A NSW Fire and Rescue spokeswoman said four crews were on the ground today assisting the SES with the recovery.
Whalan resident Susan Buxton was sitting in her lounge room when a 30m tall gumtree crashed onto her house at 3.15pm yesterday.
Rain poured into her home as she managed to crawl out over the top of branches and cleared them away from the door.
“I said the F-word and I was panicking because I couldn’t see,” she said.
Lynette Tenana was driving in Whalan when the storm threatened to blow her van off the road.
“It was like a current. You could feel the force of the wind and the rain pushing me to the left and we were trying to stay in the middle of the road,” she said.
“We couldn’t see, it was ridiculous, even with wipers moving as fast as they were.”
More than 100 energy crews have been working on repairs in the Western Sydney to restore the power.
An Enderavour Energy spokeswoman said crews had been able to restore power to more than 41,000 homes since yesterday afternoon.
Power to the remaining 1900 homes which were blacked out is due to be restored this afternoon, but there could still be isolated pockets without power this evening.
“In particular, there are 20 jobs sites where large trees have brought down multiple bays of powerlines which requires the network to be rebuilt from the ground up,” the spokeswoman said.
Bureau of Metereology spokesman David Barlow said Sydney was close to breaking the record for the wettest March in five years today.
In 24 hours yesterday Sydney Olympic Park saw the most rainfall with 44mm falling. Lidcombe saw 42mm and North Richmond was hit with 36mm.
The rain is set to continue into the weekend.
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