SOME described it as “almost a tornado” or called it a “violent storm”; others just said it was “very windy and wet”.
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The weather last Saturday brought some commotion to the wider district with several trees and branches brought down by the strong winds.
SES deputy region controller Stephen Masham said within six hours on Saturday, from 3pm-9pm, they had 17 call-outs. Most jobs involved damage to houses, including trees falling on roads.
In Delungra three houses were found with broken windows or missing awnings, then on Sunday water was leaking into a George Street home.
“We prioritise people’s safety and houses,” said Mr Masham. “We make them safe and (so that) no water can enter.”
Trees had fallen on the road at Copeton Dam Road, and on several properties near-by, behind the abattoir and the olive orchard.
More trees and branches fell around the township including Bennett Street and Ashford Road. Swanbrook and Gilgai were also hit.
Fifteen SES volunteers worked through the evening, some from Ashford.
“It was one of those freakish events,” Mr Basham said. “One SES controller was hiding under a table and said it seemed like a train went over the top of them.”
Warialda was affected more severely than Inverell.
“It was all hands on deck in Warialda,” Mr Basham said. “Even the Essential Energy comm-unications tower on three mile hill blew over.”
Mr Basham thought the damage on the landmark would not only have affected the company itself, but also the Rural Fire Service, who use it for its radio service.
Essential Energy’s community relations adviser Tracey Bonner confirmed the tower suffered significant da-mage after it was brought down due to the severe force of the winds.
Essential Energy’s regional manager, Ben Williams, said more than 7400 households and businesses were impacted by unplanned interruptions in Inv-erell, Warialda, Bingara, Delungra, Coolatai, Co-peton Dam, Tingha and surrounding areas.
He said the ferocious winds were the primary cause of damage to the electricity network.
Several powerlines were brought down by the winds and fallen trees in Inverell, Waria-lda, Gilgai, Bundarra and Copeton Dam.
The company’s local crews worked through-out Saturday and by midnight they had been able to reduce the impact on households and businesses consid-erably.
“Crews also replaced a range of other network equipment including fuses and power poles over a widespread area,” he said.
