‘Extensive damage’ as violent storm rips through Wagga with 106km/h winds

A VIOLENT thunderstorm with 100km/h winds ripped through Wagga on Wednesday afternoon, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

Official wind gusts of 106km/h were recorded at Wagga Airport as the storm slammed into the city about 2pm.

Road signs were flattened, dozens of trees uprooted and numerous powerlines brought down across a large area, with multiple vehicles crushed under felled trees.

Meanwhile, stacked shipping containers were scattered like building blocks at the Riverina Intermodal Freight and Logistics Hub in Bomen, with images obtained by The Junee Bulletin showing dozens of toppled containers, some of them damaged.

Two empty containers were also blown off a stationary train at the freight hub, with workers there likening the wind to “a tornado”.

Image: Supplied

Image: Supplied

A demountable accommodation hut was also flipped in the winds at Bomen, with paramedics called to treat four people who were inside at the time. All four were taken to Wagga Base Hospital in stable conditions.

Countless trees were brought down across multiple roads both in and around Wagga, including Byrnes Road and the Olympic Highway between Wagga and Junee, while Coolamon Road was strewn with debris and broken branches, described by drivers as a “war zone”.

According to the NSW Rural Fire Service, several major roads were closed while debris was cleared including the Sturt Highway at Gumly Gumly, the Olympic Highway at Wallacetown and the Hume Highway at Tarcutta.

Meanwhile, the old Downside Hall at Downside, 16 kilometres northwest of Wagga, was significantly damaged after a tree crashed through its roof.

A large gum tree also crashed through the roof of a block of units in Lake Albert. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.

Downside Hall | Supplied

Images: Supplied

Motorists have been urged to exercise extreme caution and avoid unnecessary travel as the clean up commences.

The XPT was also briefly halted by a tree that had fallen across the tracks around 2km north of Bomen, while power has also been cut to thousands of homes and businesses.

Over 4,700 Essential Energy customers were without power at the time of publication, including in and around Brucedale, Bomen, Estella, North Wagga, Lake Albert, Forest Hill, Gumly Gumly and Oura.

Essential Energy crews are in the field working to restore electricity to the affected suburbs.

Temperatures also plummeted 17 °C in 40 minutes as the storm tore through the region, falling from 35 °C in Wagga at 1:30 pm to just 18.9 °C at 2:11 pm.

Image: Supplied

© The Junee Bulletin

Junee escaped the brunt of the storm, the township instead whipped by strong winds and a dust storm.

Earlier, Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino warned today had the potential to be one of the “most dangerous thunderstorm days we have seen so far this summer”, due to the ample instability and potential for supercells and a squall line.

“Damaging winds, large hail and heavy rain are all likely, with destructive winds and giant hail also a chance,” Mr Domensino said on Wednesday morning.

“While there is a good chance of severe thunderstorms over a broad area of eastern and south-eastern Australia on Wednesday, the greatest risk of supercells and squall lines will be over southern NSW and the ACT, most likely in the late afternoon and evening.”