Boggabri residents are still counting losses and cleaning up after a supercell, consisting of 100km winds, golf ball size hail and torrential rain, hit the area on Friday afternoon, December 27, 2024, leaving a trail of destruction in its path.
Millions of dollars’ worth of damage to farm machinery sheds, silos, machinery totalled, garden sheds, houses, fences, chook sheds, swing sets, trampolines, air conditioners, rooves lifted and/or damaged, shade sails mangled and torn to shreds, gardens stripped bare of foliage, trees snapped off and up rooted were just some of the reported damages.
However, one of the saddest reports was from a family who lost a very precious and much-loved pony who has been part of the family for more than fifteen years.
Lorraine Christie-Rockliff said that she had been over and fed ‘Rosebud’ and she was in a yard that she could get out of and the other horse and the donkey were in a yard next to the machinery shed. Just then the lightning stuck and she said to Rosebud, “I’m not staying here, I’m going back to the house” and went to the house and as she reached the house the storm struck.
After the storm eased, she went to check on the animals and there was steel from the sheds in the yards with them and Rosebud must have tried to get away from the hail, flying debris and in the process suffered a broken leg and severe lacerations. The family and especially the grandchildren were devastated.
Their family had their large machinery shed totalled, many, many trees ripped out of the ground and major fence damage all over the farm. One of the trees, a large jacaranda tree fell on power lines near the house cutting off power for many hours.
Mrs Christie-Rockliff said, “we had the big new machinery shed totalled, it was only 15 years old, and to be honest it looked like it had been built out of tissue paper, it was a mangled mess. Thankfully one of the older sheds didn’t have as much damage.”
Mrs Christie-Rockliff’s daughter and her family members were visiting and the boys had secured and closed the van and Casey decided that she would take the car keys from the house and go and move the van closer to the shed but her mother wouldn’t let her. She said, “do not go out, it is too dangerous,” and lucky she didn’t go as even though they had closed and secured their campervan it was tossed into the sky and landed on its roof.
Mrs Christie-Rockliff said “we had no warning, it was just like a tornado, unbelievable, the whole family has rallied to help despite being devastated by our losses”. On a positive note she says that if anyone needs wood for winter, they can “come and get some as we will never use the amount that is lying around”.
“We had more family members travelling, they were coming to us and we couldn’t contact them for probably 15 to 20 minutes and with the devastation here it was a sick feeling not knowing where they were or if they were okay,” she said.
Leah Rees said, “in what can only be described as a tornado tore through our place. It was very frightening seeing a 40ft shipping container fly 100meters across the paddock.”
Describing her ordeal Leah Rees said that she had gone out to pick some rosemary from the herb garden to marinate some chops for dinner. She said, “I looked at the sky and thought wow we are in for a rough one, I have never seen the sky look like that and by the time I got back to the house it had started.”
“We have a new little working dog pup and I thought I will lock him in his cage to keep him safe and then I thought, no, I’ll let him choose where he wants to be. He chose the back verandah on the house which was very lucky as during the storm his cage was tossed into the air and sent flying down the paddock.”
Mrs Rees said, “it was just like a tornado, very, very frightening. We have a three-way bathroom, one room shower, one room vanity and one room toilet and I said to the children, get the two dashies and go into the vanity room (as there are no windows in there) and stay there”.
The Rees family lost whole sheds, rooves from sheds, solar panels, trees, shipping containers but no one hurt and no stock lost.
Mrs Rees said, “It gives you an appreciation for power and electricity. We didn’t get the power back on until Sunday night.”
Lucky, they had a generator that they could use. Mrs Rees said that they used the generator to swap from fridge, to freezer, back to fridge so that they didn’t lose any food and said, “we are appreciative of our modern conveniences, when you think back to the little house on the prairie days where you cooked on the open fire and had oil lamps”.
“We didn’t have any broken windows or damage to the house and I thought I was okay but when I rang Essential Energy to report the power lines down and the broken power poles, he asked how I was, I burst into tears. It suddenly hit me, what we had just been though and looking at the devastation outside was too much.”
Close neighbours of the Rees family and the Rockliff family lost three sheds, two haysheds, a tool shed, a round yard, and a back fence, not to mention all the trees that came down on fences and their gooseneck tipped on its side.
Lucky their horses escaped with only small cuts and a few lumps considering the horses were around the house and sheds that had flying tin and debris.
The hospital had their drains clog up with hail which caused a flood in the building and the Sacred Heart Hall had to have its roof tarped. They also lost a storage shed and a covered area turned into a mangled mess.
Over the creek a house had to have its roof tarped and out on Clark Road resident Jacki Montgomery said that she had a very scared little person whom she had to look after and protect.
Ms Montgomery said that the chook shed was up the road somewhere close to the cemetery, while the timber barbecue area on the deck snapped off and slammed onto the fence. The swing sets ran away with the wind, and the size of the hail damaged the air conditioner at the side of the house.
“Those winds were not something I have ever seen before,” she said.
Lifetime resident, 85-year-old Ron Gillham said it is the worst storm he has ever seen in Boggabri. He lost a big cedar tree out the front of his home. It just twisted it and snapped off.
The roof blew off the pony club feed shed at the showground.
Kay Matthews, a resident of the showground caravan park while waiting to move into her new home in Boggabri said, “we hear often, worst ever something or other – might be (or not) the worst storm, ever but 100+ winds, golf ball size hail, heavy rain while your caravan is trying to stay upright wasn’t fun.”
“Two awnings and a marquee that stood through multiple storms went – just really scary.”
“I’m not a storm scaredy cat, but this one scared me,” she said.
The Boggabri Swimming Pool pump and surrounds suffered damaged when trees fell.
Sue and Greg Haire had a seventy-year-old gum tree in their yard that had several huge limbs broken off smashing their fence. Unfortunately, might have to take the whole tree down due to it being unstable. They also had an awning ripped from the side of the house.
A spokesperson for the Boggabri SES said, “On the evening of Friday, December 27, a powerful storm struck Boggabri, causing widespread damage throughout the area. The storm resulted in fallen trees, damaged and missing roofs, as well as extensive leaking and structural damage to properties.”
In response to the devastation, the NSW State Emergency Service Boggabri Unit received 29 requests for assistance on the day and days after the storm impacted the community. With the NSW SES teams, working around the clock volunteers from the Boggabri, Narrabri and Tamworth units to helping to restore the community.
Work began on Friday night, continuing through Saturday, Sunday, the teams focused on carrying out temporary repairs, clearing fallen trees, and addressing immediate safety concerns. Their efforts helped reduce the risk to residents while restoring essential services as quickly as possible.
NSW SES Boggabri would like to acknowledge the support and cooperation of the NSW SES Narrabri and Tamworth units, whose assistance was invaluable during this challenging time. They acknowledged the Narrabri Shire Council and their staff for the assistance to help restore normality to the community. The Boggabri unit also thanked the local community for their patience and resilience throughout the recovery process.
Boggabri is now abuzz with insurance assessors checking damages. The Courier spoke to a couple of assessors and they commented that they have been in town for several days and still have many more properties to assess.
Speaking to community members, the common theme is that the Boggabri SES members were amazing and there has been nothing but praise for their volunteers as they left their own homes and families to help others in the community.
