General News
13 November, 2024
Julia Creek rocked by freak thunderstorm
Around 50 properties were damaged and two houses lost their roofs in the storm.
Four Julia Creek residents have been displaced after the roofs on their two properties were blown off in a freak storm on Monday.
McKinlay Shire mayor Janene Fegan said there were no reported injuries from the storm, which had wind gusts of 140km/h and rainfall between 35mm and 70mm in less than 90 minutes.
“You could see it coming on the BoM (Bureau of Meteorology radar),” she told North West Weekly.
“It probably lasted for a good hour but when it happened you are not counting the time.
“I went home to just close the windows and by the time I came back I had to sit in the car and wait because everything was shaking.
“There was heavy rain, thunder and lightning, so I sat in the car outside of the council building and checked emails and waited for it to settle.
“It seemed to run through a strip of the town – where those houses are where the roofs were lifted off.”
Cr Fegan said the last time she could recall such severe weather in Julia Creek was about 30 years ago.
“I vaguely remember but I don’t remember it being that severe and that constant ... in about 1994 or 95 we had some roofs blow off,” she recalled.
“The worst thing was it happened in the evening.
“But I don’t remember it having the same magnitude like it was (on Monday afternoon).”
A young mother, who is renting a property, has been moved into emergency accommodation, while another Julia Creek couple have moved in with nearby relatives, Cr Fegan said.
“It could have been a lot worse. There has been a lot of damage but nothing catastrophic. We lost a lot of tree branches and iron but I think we did pretty well, all things considered.”
It was the second storm to hit Julia Creek in the space of a few days after the town copped a severe electrical storm on Saturday night, knocking out power to homes for several hours.
“We’ve got more storms coming this week so we’ll just have to keep an eye on the forecast and the radar,” said Cr Fegan, who is also the chair of the Local Disaster Management committee.
All services in Julia Creek opened as per usual on Tuesday, the mayor added.