{"id":50867,"date":"2013-11-15T22:35:29","date_gmt":"2013-11-15T12:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=50867"},"modified":"2020-12-11T11:11:04","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T01:11:04","slug":"wild-storm-leaves-corridor-of-damage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/11\/15\/wild-storm-leaves-corridor-of-damage\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild Storm Leaves Corridor Of Damage"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Heathwood family was lucky when this jacaranda branch fell on their home … only guttering was damaged<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

November 15, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Along the way it destroyed sheds, ripped up trees and trashed irrigation equipment.<\/p>\n

On Colin’s property, the wind tore through a covered cow feeder area, stripping off 100m of roofing. \u00a0It also collapsed a shade-cloth over a dairy holding area and demolished the calf shed.<\/p>\n

“It was the wildest storm I have seen,” Colin told southburnett.com.au<\/strong> today.<\/p>\n

His son and his wife were sheltering in the calf shed and were fortunate to escape injury when it was blown apart.<\/p>\n

“But they weren’t as worried as my wife, she was in the main dairy worrying about them,” he said.<\/p>\n

The family was also lucky that their house escaped major damage when a large jacaranda branch fell, hitting the guttering.<\/p>\n

“You can be lucky sometimes,” Colin said.<\/p>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

Colin said other properties nearby also suffered major damage.<\/p>\n

Irrigation side rolls – which had been tied down to protect them from the wind – were rolled around, ending up wrapped around poles and trees.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Another local dairy property to suffer damage was “Burrundulla”, owned by Kel and Karen Stanton.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Karen told southburnett.com.au<\/strong>\u00a0the 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.<\/p>\n

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”.<\/p>\n

Pieces of iron from this shed also speared into the roof, \u00a0allowing rain into the building.<\/p>\n

Again fortunately no one was injured.<\/p>\n

Boonara Performance Horses at Tansey was also struck by the storm, with several yearlings requiring veterinary attention for cuts.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Owner Huon Smith said he hoped all would make a full recovery. \u00a0Three or four required stitches while others suffered superficial injuries.<\/p>\n

A hay shed on the property – \u00a0only a couple of months old – \u00a0was completely destroyed and a side roll irrigator was also badly damaged.<\/p>\n

Damage was also reported at the Waterfall Feedlot at Goomeri, and in Goomeri township itself.<\/p>\n