Storms ripped through parts of the Riverina, with Yenda impacted the most heavily impacted. Photo: Murrumbidgee NSW SES.
Volunteers from the State Emergency Service (SES) are continuing to respond to 125 separate calls for help in Yenda, after what’s been described as a ‘mini-tornado’ hit the town and surrounds on Saturday afternoon (7 December).
“Yenda was hit by a wind storm at about 3 pm on Saturday,” Griffith SES Deputy Commander Anthony Hatch said.
“It was a 115-kilometre-per-hour storm that went through Yenda, Bilbul, Beelbangera and a small section of Griffith. We assisted people who had trees on their houses and holes in their roofs.”
Winery owner Darren De Bortoli, who saw many trees near his Yenda home knocked down, described the weather event as a ‘mini-tornado’.
“During the storm, I saw the trees at the back of my large yard bending in one direction and the trees closer to the house bending in the opposite direction,” he said.
[There was] some damage to the winery itself, but I was expecting far worse. The township of Yenda was also hit fairly bad [with] trees down everywhere.”
Fallen down trees at Darren De Bortoli’s house. Photo: Facebook.
Mr Hatch explained the work his band of volunteers were doing in an interview with local MP Helen Dalton.
“We’ve been out since Saturday afternoon and we’ve had our teams in the field. We were dealing with life at risk initially, we responded to areas with powerlines down, then we moved to making areas safe,” Mr Hatch said.
“The residents have rallied together and they’re doing a lot of the work. The SES is about helping the community help themselves. We’ve got an ambulance on standby with so many people using chainsaws.
“A tree on a driveway so you can’t get your car in and out is considered an emergency, or a tree on a structure is considered an emergency. If it comes down in your backyard, it doesn’t count as an emergency, so we’ll need you to get yourselves and your friends to deal with that and pull it out to your front yard. Council [will] come along to clear it up.”
A roof came off a property in Yenda. Photo: Griffith Free Local News Facebook.
Mayor Doug Curran provided a Facebook update on the situation on Monday (8 December).
“Most of the power is back in Yenda. I just wanted to give a special shout-out to Essential Energy. We were out there yesterday and they were doing a power of work. The only issue is the houses that have lost their connection to the main power line… they should be back today or tomorrow,” he said.
“The Tharbogang tip will remain open for free for any tree debris. Yenda isn’t manned during the week, but will be next Saturday and Sunday. Yenda will be serviced by the council crew during the remainder of the week, if you have any tree debris we can take that to our either of our landfills ourselves.”
NSW SES Southern Zone Commander Ben Pickup said they’d received 125 requests for help.
“Of those, 43 are outstanding and expected to be completed in the next 48 hours,” he said.
“Our teams from Griffith, Leeton, Wagga and Coolamon have provided localised support. As well as teams from Wollongong, Sutton and teams in Sydney who are on the way. Our partner agencies at the Rural Fire Service (RFS) and Fire and Rescue have also been helping.
“If you’re keen to help, go down to the SES teams in the field down out at Yenda, and they can find directions from them. Locals helping locals has been ongoing over the past few days, as well as the efforts of emergency services and Griffith City Council.”
Loading ...
