November 15, 2013
The local wisdom at Boonara is that storms which come from the north are vicious, and this week’s effort seems to have proven the case.
The wild storm that whipped the Goomeri-Tansey-Boonara area on Wednesday evening left a trail of destruction and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars damage to properties.
Colin Heathwood, who has a 300-head dairy at Watchbox via Boonara, said the storm came in from the Oakfield area and passed along a 4km wide corridor to Goomeri.
Along the way it destroyed sheds, ripped up trees and trashed irrigation equipment.
On Colin’s property, the wind tore through a covered cow feeder area, stripping off 100m of roofing. It also collapsed a shade-cloth over a dairy holding area and demolished the calf shed.
“It was the wildest storm I have seen,” Colin told southburnett.com.au today.
His son and his wife were sheltering in the calf shed and were fortunate to escape injury when it was blown apart.
“But they weren’t as worried as my wife, she was in the main dairy worrying about them,” he said.
The family was also lucky that their house escaped major damage when a large jacaranda branch fell, hitting the guttering.
“You can be lucky sometimes,” Colin said.
No cattle were hurt in the storm but only 19mm of rain fell – or, at least, were measured: “It’s pretty hard to measure horizontal rain.”
Colin said other properties nearby also suffered major damage.
Irrigation side rolls – which had been tied down to protect them from the wind – were rolled around, ending up wrapped around poles and trees.
Five houses in the area between Boonara and Goomeri required tarps and he had been told there had been 19 calls to the SES for help.
Another local dairy property to suffer damage was “Burrundulla”, owned by Kel and Karen Stanton.
Karen told southburnett.com.au the storm wiped out three hay sheds on the property and they had lost three side roll irrigators – worth about $50,000 each. Sadly two of these had only just been replaced after this year’s floods.
Another small shed, about 20m from the house, was lifted by the gale and smashed into the side of the home, breaking windows and knocking a cupboard “clean off the wall”.
Pieces of iron from this shed also speared into the roof, allowing rain into the building.
Again fortunately no one was injured.
Boonara Performance Horses at Tansey was also struck by the storm, with several yearlings requiring veterinary attention for cuts.
Owner Huon Smith said he hoped all would make a full recovery. Three or four required stitches while others suffered superficial injuries.
A hay shed on the property – only a couple of months old – was completely destroyed and a side roll irrigator was also badly damaged.
Damage was also reported at the Waterfall Feedlot at Goomeri, and in Goomeri township itself.
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