GERRINGONG FAMILY LOSE ROOF IN WEEKEND STORM

Katie Bolack with the remnants of the roof after it was ripped from the house she shares with partner Ed Harvey (circled) and sent 30 metres through the air in last Sundays huge winds.

HUGE westerly winds caused havoc throughout the municipality last Sunday with the SES receiving 33 call outs between 1 and 9pm due to storm damage.

We had a significant amount of damage from trees falling down around the district, spokesman for Kiama SES David Leigh said.

There was a number of properties damaged with two local houses having problems with their roofs. We were forced to hand a number of problems on to Integral energy with trees falling across power lines while a large tree caused significant damage to a fence when it came down in South Kiama Drive.

We cleaned up most of the damage on Sunday night while there was still a small number of clean up jobs to do on the Monday morning.

Among those most affected by the storm was a Werri Beach man who had a lucky escape when the roof blew off his house while he was enjoying a

barbecue with friends.

Ed Harvey lost the roof to his patio and rear three rooms of his house after the freak westerly winds bombarded his Pacific Avenue property at

approximately 1.30pm last Sunday.

We were out the back on the patio when we decided to move the barbecue out the front of the house because it was too windy.

It was only 10 minutes later when I went out on to the patio to grab a couple of beers that the whole back half of the roof just ripped off. I slammed the door and yelled out to the boys have you seen my roof they didnt know what I was talking about and then I yelled out because youre about to.

Mr Harveys roof travelled over the top of his house before severing the powerlines in front of his residence and coming to a rest approximately 30 metres away on the nature strip

adjoining Werri Beach.

The powerlines were on the road and they were sparking, the roof was flying through the air, it was absolutely nuts, he said.

I heard a creak but I didnt think the whole roof would go. At first it scared the life out of us but after that it was pretty exciting. The SES came around and we continued having our barbecue out the front. We couldnt believe how quick the old Gerringong grapevine worked. Within minutes it was like Pitt Street with everyone

coming to have a look.

We were pretty lucky when you think about it. The roof flew over the top of my mates car without scratching it and if someone had of been walking across the road they would have been doing it a bit tough.