Millions in minutes: How horror storm has impacted businesses

It’s been a rough start to the year for businesses and now owners are facing repair bills for the estimated worth of millions of dollars.

DRYING OUT: Thibault & Donaldson showroom manager Emily Scott has spent two days clearing thousands of items out from the store to go either in the tip or the sun after the shop was inundated in the destructive weekend storm.

A destructive storm that lashed Toowoomba with heavy rain, hail and flash flooding in the early hours of Sunday has left dozens of businesses across the city’s CBD with millions of dollars in repair bills.

With many of the Garden City’s small businesses still in the Covid-19 recovery phase, the thunderstorm that quickly turned Margaret St into a raging river couldn’t have happened at a worse time.

But if anyone understands the power of resilience it’s Rowes general manager Paul McMahon.

Staff of the furniture store, which has been serving the region since 1892, watched their stock float down Russell St in the devastating 2011 floods 11 years and eight days ago.

So when the Bureau of Meteorology issued a weather warning late Saturday night, the feeling was eerily familiar.

The aftermath of the 2011 floods outside of Rowes Furniture store. Picture: Dave Noonan / The Chronicle

With nearby storm water drains blocked up with hail and leaves, the ground floor of Rowes was inundated with water, leaving a huge impact on the ground floor and showroom.

“It’s almost deja vu 11 years and a few days on … it’s just been devastating,” Mr McMahon said.

“From a retail perspective, we’ve had to open in a very limited sense because we’ve got all the floors ripped up and it’s created a bit of difficulty.”

Readers shared images of the aftermath of the hail and thunderstorm in the Toowoomba region on Saturday night. Picture: Contributed.

Upstairs, the sight of the newly renovated Rowes building, which was nearing completion, is not much better.

Mr McMahon said another issue was the building’s box gutter, which was filled up with at least two feet of hail.

“When that all freezes, the water just has no where to go and it won’t drain away so it eventually finds a way by coming up under the roof, which flooded the whole first floor of the new premises,” he said.

“These things make you feel like it’s the worst thing in the world, but we’re slowly getting on top of it, things are drying out, we’ve been able to fix some of the problems that were caused but we’ll keep on keeping on.”

With insurance assessors evaluating the damage at Rowes on Monday afternoon, the replacement value is yet to be confirmed, but Mr McMahon said he estimated between $100,000 to $200,000 for stock and ceilings.

Electricians, builders and cleaners were onsite Monday attending to the carpets, airconditioners, ceilings and to rectify any potential hazards.

“It’s all about being resilient and bouncing back … we had tremendous help on Sunday and it was just unbelievable,” he said.

“As I often say it’s good that the damage was made to things and not people and that’s the most important thing.”

Readers shared images of the aftermath of the hail and thunderstorm in the Toowoomba region on Saturday night. Picture: Contributed

Senior meteorologist for the Bureau of Meteorology Steven Hadley said a weather warning was cancelled at 3.27am on Sunday, once the immediate threat of severe thunderstorms had passed.

“A line of severe thunderstorms moved up out of New South Wales into southern Queensland (on Saturday night),” he said.

“The Bureau warned that severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and heavy rainfall which may lead to flash flooding were moving into Queensland from the south from 10.32pm and included Toowoomba from 12.42am.

“We’ve received reports from emergency services and through social media of small hail blocking gutters and flowing down streets in the flash flooding which resulted from around 30-35mm of rain coming down within 30 minutes.”

DRYING OUT: Thibault & Donaldson showroom manager Emily Scott has spent two days clearing thousands of items out from the store to go either in the tip or the sun after the shop was inundated in the destructive weekend storm.

For Jo Donaldson, who is the owner of design, furniture and decor shop Thibault & Donaldson, it had been an exhausting two days of clearing out items that had been destroyed and salvaging what she could.

Insurance Australia Group executive manager Craig Byfield said the majority of claims received from the region since the storm hit were for homes and commercial buildings.

“We’ve received 13 claims across our NRMA Insurance, CGU and WFI brands following the weekend storms,” Mr Byfield said.

“At this stage the damage appears to have been caused by hail damaging roofs or blocking gutters and drains, which has then caused water to come through roofs, damaging ceilings and some contents inside.”

Readers shared images of the aftermath of the hail and thunderstorm in the Toowoomba region on Saturday night. Picture: Contributed

Meanwhile RACQ spokeswoman Renee Smith said there had been moderate damage from Sunday morning’s wild weather, with 21 home and eight motor claims filed for the Toowoomba region.

A Suncorp spokeswoman aid she was unable to confirm the amount of damage caused as it was too early to know the full extent.

“East Toowoomba, South Toowoomba and Harristown (were among) the hardest hit,” the spokeswoman said.

Readers shared images of the aftermath of the hail and thunderstorm in the Toowoomba region on Saturday night. Picture: Contributed

Toowoomba Regional Council will waive commercial waste fees until January 28, in a bid to assist businesses and residents impacted by the storm.

“Waste generated, as part of the clean-up, will be accepted at the Greater Toowoomba Waste Management Facility and the Toowoomba Waste Management Centre free of charge,” Mayor Paul Antonio said.

He said parking enforcement officers had also been asked to use their discretion during this time for the owners and staff members who have been impacted by the storm and may require additional on-street parking.

TRC buildings damaged during the storm included the Milne Bay Aquatic Centre and Art Gallery, both of which will remain closed until further notice.

“Like many other buildings in Toowoomba, we’ve experienced damage to a number of our own facilities due to the severe storm that hit the city over the weekend and we ask for patience while we assesses the damage,” Cr Antonio said.

“Unfortunately, the two facilities were damaged, but our crews are working as quick as they can to get them back open to the public.”

Commercial waste can be disposed of at the Greater Toowoomba Waste Management Facility and Toowoomba Waste Management Centre.

A declaration will need to be completed at the gatehouse to enable council to track waste.

The community is encouraged to prepare for summer storms and notify council for the removal of fallen trees and debris on roads.

SUNDAY – 3PM

Several businesses across the Toowoomba region have been forced to close due to the hailstorm on Saturday night that left many of them flooded and severely damaged.

The Milne Bay Aquatic Centre was one of the many businesses impacted and unable to trade on Sunday, as a result.

Milne Bay Aquatic Centre is just one of the Toowoomba businesses which have been forced to close on Sunday, due to severe flooding and hail damage.

“There is extensive flooding throughout the electrics and plumbing (has) been considerably affected,” a spokesperson for the centre said.

“The Centre will not be able to reopen until every aspect of the operation is deemed to be safe for both customers and staff.”

Milne Bay Aquatic Centre is just one of the Toowoomba businesses which have been forced to close on Sunday, due to severe flooding and hail damage.

Trades staff from the Toowoomba Regional Council are currently onsite and attending to repairs at the centre, but with several other buildings that require attention, the centre estimated the works may take a lot of time.

Milne Bay Aquatic Centre is just one of the Toowoomba businesses which have been forced to close on Sunday, due to severe flooding and hail damage.

“As soon as we have a reopening date we will let you know,” the spokesperson said.

‘We appreciated everyone who has come in to assist … we hope you can appreciate why we cannot open the centre and thank you for your understanding.”

The carpets of Toowoomba’s Heritage Bank are also in the process of being removed, to allow its floors to dry out.

“Storm damage to the ground floor of Heritage Bank’s Head Office Building on Ruthven Street has forced the closure of its Plaza Branch and its Business Banking Centre for the next week,” a Heritage Bank spokesman said.

“(Sunday) night’s massive storm caused water to overflow the gutters on Ruthven St and inundate the floors of these areas.

“The Plaza Branch, including its ATM at the front, will be closed while these repairs take place.”

In the meantime, customers are encouraged to use the nearby branch at Grand Central Shopping Centre as an alternative.

Fortunately the remaining areas of the bank’s head office complex was not impacted, allowing staff to access the building and for operations to be carried out as normal.

Other business closed as a result of flooding include Proof BBQ and Booze, Banter Coffee House, Bodega, Rowes Furniture and sections of Grand Central Shopping Centre.

As a result, Myer, Event Cinemas and some of the seating areas in the food court at Grand Central will remain closed until further notice.

While stores including Katie’s, Just Jeans, Autograph and Hype DC remained closed on Sunday.

Flooding was also recorded in various parts of the CBD including Hume and Margaret Sts, while some areas of the region recorded between 40 and 50mm of rain on Saturday night.

Senior meteorologist for the Bureau of Meteorology Steven Hadley said a weather warning was cancelled at 3.27am on Sunday, once the immediate threat of severe thunderstorms had passed.

“A line of severe thunderstorms moved up out of New South Wales into southern Queensland last night,” he said.

“The Bureau warned that severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and heavy rainfall which may lead to flash flooding were moving into Queensland from the south from 10:32pm and included Toowoomba from 12:42am.

“We’ve received reports from emergency services and through social media of small hail blocking gutters and flowing down streets in the flash flooding which resulted from around 30-35mm of rain coming down within 30 minutes.”

Sunday remained relatively dry for Toowoomba but the senior meteorologist said some thunderstorm activity may develop later in the region on Sunday night, with the possibility that some of the storms may become severe.

“Though hail is still a chance it is more likely that the storms would produce impacts of lightning, gusty to damaging winds and heavy rainfall,” Mr Hadley said.

“On Monday there is the possibility of thunderstorms again in the Toowoomba region but they’re unlikely to be severe.

“Generally, the storm focus will be shifting further west and south away from the Toowoomba area from Tuesday and for the rest of the week but there remains the chance of showers.”