Powerful winds brought down several trees across the Illawarra on Saturday – keeping SES volunteers busy. Photo: File.
Wild weather battered Illawarra homes late on Saturday (20 July).
Wind gusts exceeding 90 km/h were recorded by the Bureau of Meteorology in Albion Park from noon, and blasts of more than 100 km/h were registered between 9 pm and 10 pm.
Power outages affected homes in and around Dapto and Fairy Meadow. Endeavour Energy said power had been restored to all homes in the Illawarra region by Sunday (21 July).
Fairy Meadow residents reported a tree knocked over by the wind blocked three lanes of the Princes Highway in the afternoon.
It was removed by State Emergency Service members, who attended 371 calls for help across the South-East region for wind-related damage.
“We’re still attending to some incidents this morning, but it is starting to abate,” SES spokesperson Jason Simms said.
“Trees down blocking roads and power lines down were the main calls for help.
“Across the state there were more than 11,000 incidents; it was quite a vigorous event.”
There were 65 calls for help in the Wollongong area, 53 in Dapto, 51 in Shellharbour, 30 in Kiama and 42 in Nowra.
If the winds alone weren’t enough, they brought with them an extreme chill.
The weather bureau recorded actual temperatures of between 10 and 15 degrees Celsius on Saturday, but with windchill taken into account, it says it felt as cold as -4C around 4 pm, and residents would have struggled to feel much warmer than 7C through the day.
A severe weather warning for damaging winds remains in place across Wollongong, although winds are expected to ease late on Sunday morning.
The SES advises that people should:
- Move vehicles under cover or away from trees.
- Secure or put away loose items around your house, yard and balcony.
- Keep at least eight metres away from fallen power lines or objects that may be energised, such as fences.
- Remember that trees damaged by fire are likely to be more unstable and more likely to fall.
- Report fallen power lines to either Ausgrid (131 388), Endeavour Energy (131 003), Essential Energy (132 080) or Evoenergy (131 093) as shown on your power bill.
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