Roof of East Devonport home flies off into backyard to the shock of neighbours
Five people and their pets were inside their home when the roof flew off and into their backyard during the night. Here’s what happened.
Tasmania
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Five people and their pets were inside their house when the roof of their home blew off and into their backyard at East Devonport.
Around midnight on Sunday, SES crews were called to the Riverview Ave address.
“We were in bed, and all we heard was windows breaking,” a neighbour told The Mercury.
“I went out and had a look. The powerlines had gone down, and we thought the SES was here for that.
“We didn’t even hear the roof come off the house; no bangs or anything – it just folded over and ended up in their backyard.
“I was shocked. It’s a bit unbelievable.”
As of Monday afternoon, the occupants had not returned to their residence, which had a large tarp weighed down by sandbags over the area where the roof used to be.
At least two other residents in Riverview Ave had their windows broken due to the heavy overnight winds.
Work under way to repair storm damage in North
Thousands of homes in Northern Tasmanian still remain without power as both the State Emergency Services and TasNetworks work to repair damage after wild winds and torrential rains lashed the state.
Winds of up to 150km/h battered Launceston overnight, causing damage to houses, cars and power infrastructure.
The damaging winds struck a large gum tree on Hargrove Cr near East Tamar Primary School overnight, causing it to fall, narrowly missing a Mayfield home and nearby vehicles.
Meanwhile, heavy rains have again transformed the Cataract Gorge in Launceston into a raging torrent, scaling along the swimming pool and coming up to the playground.
Launceston resident Abbie Cullen, and sons George Cullen (5), and Harry Cullen (4), took the opportunity to see the spectacle.
“They’ve never seen the Gorge like this before, and to think about how much water it actually takes to make it this high is quite impressive,” Mrs Cullen said.
CLICK HERE FOR ROLLING COVERAGE OF MONDAY’S WEATHER EVENTS
Heritage railway tracks washed away
A section of the West Coast Wilderness Railway is expected to be closed for around a week after a stretch of the tracks was washed away during the wild weather.
The General Manager of the railway, Ian Robertson, said a 10-15m section of the Strahan to Lower Landing service had given way.
He was aiming for the line to be operational again by next Monday but said that extra plant equipment would need to be sourced for that to happen.
The West Coast Wilderness Railway has been subject to major infrastructure upgrades over the last year.
Mr Robertson said the recent damage would set them back.
“The railway does have a saying that comes back from the day when they installed the railway, which is ‘find a way or make it’,” he said.
“That motto still lives on in the railway.”
More updates to come from northern Tasmania
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