East coast low drenches south coast of NSW, felling trees, damaging homes

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4 days ago

An intense weather system has wreaked havoc on the NSW south coast, downing trees and powerlines with some homes significantly damaged.
Emergency flood warnings were issued for Burrill Lake, Sanctuary Point, Lake Conjola and Tabourie on Wednesday after the east coast low brought powerful gusts and heavy rain to the south coast.
Ulladulla recorded 223 millimetres of rain on Tuesday night, its heaviest July downpour on record.
Meanwhile, wind gusts in excess of 100kph buffeted the coast, felling trees and powerlines.
A Sussex Inlet resident said the storm had interrupted his Bali holiday.
John Godley was two days into his trip overseas when he received an urgent text from his neighbour telling him his home had been damaged.
"She said a massive tree next door on your border has fallen during the rain bomb," he said.
It had crushed the roof of his house and the verandah.
"I was devastated," he said.
Mr Godley said he had been relying on the help of neighbours and family to survey the damage.
"I'm tossing up whether to go back to Australia to go look at it," he said.
"Before it happened everyone was texting me saying, 'Oh, you're so lucky.'"
The NSW SES has responded to more than 2,000 incidents across the state in the past 24 hours, with most jobs in flooded areas along the south coast.
Units along the coast have responded to reports of multiple fallen trees damaging homes and property.
A large gum tree was uprooted and fell onto a two-storey brick home in Malua Bay, causing significant damage.
There were 38 incidents of trees impacting houses in 24 hours in the Eurobodalla, which stretches between Batemans Bay, Akolele and Narooma.
NSW SES Eurobodalla commander Peter Collins said some trees were leaning against the buildings, while others had fallen through.
"We had a couple last night where they've fallen onto the house and rain is coming into the bedrooms," he said.
SES Chief Inspector Dallas Burnes said the full extent of the storm's damage would be assessed once the weather cleared.
"We're still seeing some significant rainfall, and the winds, whilst they've eased are still there," he said.
The low pressure system is slowly moving off shore, and the NSW SES expects communities to need assistance with cleaning up.
"People are identifying problems now and giving us a call," Mr Burns said.
"It's mainly storm jobs today, no more flood rescues."
However, the NSW SES said further warnings could be issued on Wednesday at Lake Conjola and Sussex Inlet as floodwater was expected to rise ahead of a high tide.
Hospitality businesses on the NSW south coast have been preparing to throw out hundreds of dollars worth of food as a result of flood-induced power outages.
Rian Gough, owner of Rosie Oats cafe at Burrill Lake, said she expected to lose a lot of produce.
"I'm going to have to throw out a lot of my fresh produce so meats, cheeses, fruit and veg and a lot of my bread orders will probably go mouldy," she said.
"It's tough, it's really tough, especially being a small business owner and just seeing it all go to waste."
Brinley Kettle, who is a co-owner of Lagom Bakery at Burrill Lake, said he had to close his business for the day after losing power for 16 hours.
"It's a bit crap we couldn't open," he said.
"It does maybe flood once a year or so, but this is quite bad.
"This is maybe once in every few years."
Mr Kettle said he could lose $1,000 worth of perishable items, including cheese, meats, juices and cakes.
"It's quite cold today, so we've got hopes that stuff will keep cool, but definitely not counting on it," he said.
"The cakes should be fine, but there's a few things that might not be.
"We've still got another day of this rain."