Trim those trees, warns SES in wake of storms

This week saw a massive clean-up effort continuing, after severe storms wreaked havoc throughout the Central Coast from Wednesday, January 15 through until Sunday, January 19.

State Emergency Services (SES) Local Commander for Gosford and Wyong Rolf Garda said around 570 calls were received between Wednesday and Sunday, with slightly more from the north of the region than the south.

“All these calls were tree-related,” he said.

“Falling trees lead to leaking roofs because of damaged tiles and other damage.

“Every storm season the message is the same – cut your trees!

“Often red tape is involved and it can be costly but the cost afterwards far exceeds the initial lay-out for mitigation.

“Every tree that could fall and hit your house should be cut back or removed.

“Firefighters say the same thing – falling trees are also a major hazard during bushfire season.”

Many areas of the region also experienced severe flooding.

SES crews worked hard to address damage caused by the storms, assisted by NSW Rural Fire Service – Central Coast District and Fire and Rescue NSW.

By Wednesday, January 22, only a handful of call-outs remained to be completed.

Meanwhile, on Monday, January 20, energy crews and the SES were working to restore power to Central Coast homes and businesses which lost power during the storms.

As of 6am on Monday, January 20, around 1,000 homes and business in the region were dark as crews worked around the clock to restore power.

Mary Middleton of Narara was one resident who lost power and praised Ausgrid’s quick response.

“The power went off about 9pm on Wednesday, January 15,” she said.

“Tree removal and work on the restoration of power started Thursday morning.

“Ausgrid vehicles arrived in front of my house around 1.30pm and started to work on the supply pole.

“Power was restored at around 3.10pm which was short of the 5pm estimate provided to one of my neighbours.

“The efficiency and courtesy shown to our area was greatly appreciated as they only had a very short time when it was not raining heavily.

“Our area was very fortunate to not need to toss all our food which would have been very costly.”

Meanwhile, the NSW Opposition called for the Labor NSW and Federal Governments to extend disaster recovery funding announced for a few select areas to the Central Coast and other affected regions.

Shadow Minister for the Central Coast Adam Crouch said the declaration of funding for some areas didn’t reflect the extent of the situation on the ground.

“The Central Coast also suffered through this intense storm activity and it’s disappointing that none of the local state Labor MPs are standing up to make sure we are also included in the disaster declaration,” he said.

“We are calling for this to happen immediately, and we also need the Minns Government to temporarily lift the waste levy in more areas, given the enormous amount of debris that has been generated.”

Learn more about preparing for storms season at ses.nsw.gov.au/plan-and-prepare/storm