Mary River Wilderness Retreat hit by freak storm

Trees were snapped in half like broken toys and branches laid sprawled lifeless across the lawns of the Mary River Wilderness Retreat.

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TREES were snapped in half like broken toys and branches laid sprawled lifeless across the lawns of the Mary River Wilderness Retreat.

A freak storm cell ripped through the 24 cabin resort, leaving a path of destruction on Wednesday at about 4.30pm.

Mary River Wilderness Retreat assistant manager Scott Marley said the storm started like normal but gradually became something more insidious as it “demolished the place”.

“There was really strong winds and all of the trees just broke,” Mr Marley said.

Scott Marley at the scene of a very localised storm cell at the Mary River Wilderness Retreat. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Three cabins had severe damage after heavy branches and uprooted trees fell on the roofs, no one was injured.

“Room 12 had a whole uprooted tree fall straight on top of the roof and cave into the room,” he said.

“Thankfully we had no guests, they had all checked out (Wednesday) but we had some arriving (Thursday) which we had to cancel them all due to the damage.”

The resort looked like a massacre had taken place, with branches sprawled lifeless and splintered, green leaves sprayed like blood.

Cabins were taken out during a localised storm cell at the Mary River Wilderness Retreat. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) senior forecaster Billy Lynch said the thunderstorm the resort experienced was a “wet microburst”.

“What they do is produce very gusty winds, it’s a common build-up type of thunderstorm,” Mr Lynch said.

“They’re not big thunderstorms but they can produce some big damage if you’re in the wrong place.”

Mr Lynch said the odds of a wet microburst storm hitting was a bit like finding a needle in a haystack. “They only cover a few kilometres and are small in scale, I would say Mary River is really unlucky that it happened,” he said.

Broken trees after a very localised storm cell at the Mary River Wilderness Retreat. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Local legend volunteer Kerry Muller got sweaty and cleared the fallen foliage from the carpark.

Keleson Constructions owner Craig Johnston offered his and his five employees help for free. “I heard him on the radio this morning and he sounded devastated with everything so I thought the least I could do is get out with the boys for a day and help him out,” Mr Johnston said.