A major clean-up effort is underway across the ACT, after severe thunderstorms felled trees, flooded homes and cut power to hundreds of properties. There was heavy rain lightening strikes and hail the size of golf balls. Authorities are warning last night’s storms will not be the last wild weather of the summer.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00As Canberra assessed the damage, it was clear this apartment building and its residents had a near miss.
00:09It's one of those storms that's brought down a lot of trees.
00:12I could tell there was a green tinge, that it might be hail.
00:14But I thought, oh well, it's just going to be one of those storms.
00:17But when it hit, it was just like, it was crazy, it was like a cyclone.
00:20Response crews were flooded with nearly 300 calls for help.
00:24I will get you to stay back there.
00:26Wind gusts in New South Wales, weather station nearby as high as 110km an hour.
00:30That's exactly what's come through the northern suburbs here at the ACT.
00:34I have had some photos shown to me that some of those were as big as golf balls.
00:37Nearly 1500 properties lost power when lightning struck transmission lines in Canberra's surrounding regions.
00:44We've got teams from SES, New South Wales, SES, RFS, fire trucks from ACT Fire Rescue.
00:51We don't see storms like that very often and to have two within a week is very, very unusual.
00:56Despite the damage, for some the heavy rain was a welcome relief.
01:01Filled our dam, so we've got a wonderful lot of water after a really dry summer.
01:07Aside from a few downed trees or taped off areas like this one,
01:11there's hardly any sign now that there was a severe storm hitting Canberra this time last night.
01:18And as we enjoy this reprieve, authorities say now is the time to prepare for the next storm.
01:24That preparation really helps to lower the impact of severe storms.
01:27A reminder that nature's light show can result in a costly clean-up.