It wasn’t quite the white Christmas some would dream of when Merimbula was left covered in hail stones after a severe storm cell tore through the town on yesterday afternoon.
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Photos and videos were quickly shared across social media showing damage the storm had done to cars, homes and businesses on Sunday, December 17.
Bega Valley SES received 54 calls for assistance in Merimbula. After assessing damage in the area, unit controller Yvette Ringland said Berrambool and Fishpen were hit hardest.
“It is the most jobs we have received for one storm event in a long time, it definitely was an intense cell that did a lot of damage in a short period of time,” she said.
Six teams of SES volunteers from Eden, Bega and Bermagui units were tasked to remove fallen trees, patch up broken windows and skylights.
“We managed to complete 27 of those jobs by the time we closed down last night, there are five teams out in the field again today trying to complete the outstanding jobs,” Ms Ringland said.
It was pretty crazy, we had everyone come out of the cinema because the hail was so loud on the roof they couldn’t actually hear the movie.
- Jesse Tankard
Essential Energy had received one call-out to attend a power pole which had fallen at The Old School Museum in Merimbula.
Community relations manager Ian Armstrong said Essential Energy was grateful the storm had not caused any other outages in area.
“We attended a single call-out to a private power supply, a power pole which had gone down in the front yard of the museum,” he said.
“We disconnected it from the network so there were no live power lines anywhere and are working to get it back up today [Monday].”
“We were very fortunate and very grateful that the electrical system has come out unscathed, we always like to keep the power on,” Mr Armstrong said.
Businesses in Merimbula were affected by the storm. Apollo Luxury Apartments said five apartments had broken windows and Saltwater Organics was forced to close Monday due to water damage.
The heavy fall of hail stones caused The Picture Show Man in Merimbula to pause a film to evacuate a cinema.
“The hail was so heavy it clogged up one of the drains and the water came through the roof in cinema one,” managing director Jesse Tankard said.
“It was pretty crazy, we had everyone come out of the cinema because the hail was so loud on the roof they couldn’t actually hear the movie.
“Everyone was watching the hail hitting outside, it was quite a spectacular thing but also quite scary,” he said.
Mr Tankard said they were lucky the storm did not cause any serious damage, they were able to continue screening films into the evening.
“At the end of the day we were pretty lucky, we have to replace a couple of roof panels but were able to continue screening our films out for the rest of the night in that cinema.”
Some residents of Merimbula declared the phenomenal storm to be “the craziest ever,” with “incredible looking hail stones”.
Michael Standen was in Woolworths when the storm hit, he commented on Facebook, “half to three-quarter golf ball sized. Ankle deep in the car park. Off to the panel beaters tomorrow I guess.”
The storm cell lashed over Merimbula and moved offshore, there were other locations also affected. Golf ball-size hail stones were reported in Bega and parts of Tura Beach.
Pambula Beach saw smaller hail stones fall, the storm had completely avoided Nethercote and Lochiel.
If you have sustained damage or require assistance from the SES call 13 25 00.
