(Photo: Jane Erkens)
September 18, 2013
Monday night’s wild storms – the first of the season – unroofed a house, downed powerlines and caused widespread blackouts in the South Burnett.
At the height of the storm, Kingaroy SES was called to a house on Kumbia-Brooklands Road which had been unroofed by the strong winds.
Peter Verbakel, from Kingaroy SES, told southburnett.com.au volunteers found the roof had been completely blown off.
The interior of the home was badly damaged but, fortunately, the elderly owner was not injured. The SES remained at the scene to do emergency repairs until about 2:00am.
SES volunteers and council workers were kept busy overnight and on Tuesday removing fallen trees and large branches from roads as the storm left a swathe of destruction from Nanango, through Brooklands to Maidenwell.
Wind gusts of 63km/h were recorded in Kingaroy at 7:55pm but readings of up to 80km/h were recorded by other weather stations in south-east Queensland as the storm cells passed through.
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In Nanango, the wind ripped apart two large shade sails at the historic Ringsfield House in Alfred Street.
Nanango Historical Society president Ros Gregor said the two damaged sails had now been taken down.
“I’m not sure yet if we can afford to replace them,” she said.
Ros said a lot of trees in the Ringsfield gardens had lost limbs. One large branch fell on a stack of pavers which were going to be placed into a footpath, damaging some.
“We’re lucky nothing fell on any of the buildings,” Ros said.
Other parts of Nanango were not so lucky. A tree smashed into the tennis courts in Drayton Street, badly damaging fencing.
Large trees also fell in Chester Street, Burnett Street, Cairns Street and Pioneer Park.
The winds also damaged signs and powerlines came down in Church Street, near Karinya.
South Burnett Regional Council workers were called to repair damage to a sewerage pump.
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In Blackbutt, fallen powerlines in Enid Court blacked out about about 1300 Ergon Energy customers in Blackbutt and Benarkin and about 150 customers in Yarraman.
About 300 homes in the Brooklands, Maidenwell and Wengenville areas – and 200 in the southern part of the Nanango town area – were still without power at 1:00pm today.
All power was restored shortly afterwards with the exception of 28 Ergon customers in South Nanango which were affected by a leaning pole.
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Near Kingaroy, trees and branches fell on the Bunya Highway, Kingaroy-Cooyar Road, Redmans Road and Parsons Road.
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The storms brought welcome rain to the region. Some Bureau of Meteorology official totals:
- Kingaroy Airport – 37.6mm
- Nanango (Wills St) – 45.4mm
- Proston Post Office – 29mm
- Yarraman Post Office – 28mm
- Related article: Storm Blacks Out 4000 Homes
