A Kiama resident has told of the moment a large gum tree came crashing down onto his home and car after it was ripped from the ground by wild winds at the weekend.
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Ray Kearin was watching TV inside his Hillview Circuit house - with his partner, Kerry Hobbs, and their dog, Bella - when a "massive thud" interrupted their viewing.
The 72-year-old raced to the front door and found the towering tree that stood tall on his front nature strip had fallen towards the house; its huge branches landing on the roof and crushing a car parked in the driveway.
"I was just watching TV and heard this massive thud, but didn't think it was the tree at first," Mr Kearin told the Mercury.
"I thought I'd better check ... because I've had trouble with the tree for years - and there it was.
"I couldn't get out [the front door] because there was a branch there. I had to sort of push it out of the way, and looked across at my car.
"I could hardly see my car, but I could see there was damage because the front and back windscreens had burst out and they were all smashed."
Mr Kearin alerted the SES on Saturday night and an orange army of 14 volunteers arrived on Sunday morning to begin the clean-up.
They worked for about three-and-a-half hours to make the home and its surrounds safe, even replacing damaged tiles on the roof.
Kiama SES deputy local commander John Wall said the volunteers used a lot of equipment, including standard chainsaws and pole saws.
"We even had to bring in some of our road crash rescue hydraulics to jack the big tree up a little bit, to enable us to safely manage removal of the branches," Mr Wall said.
The tree, estimated to be at least 15 metres tall, weighed up to 60 tonnes, he said.
Mr Kearin described the SES as "unbelievable". "They just got in and did it ... they worked very hard and did a really good job," he said.
Mr Kearin's tree was one of 10 wind-related jobs volunteers responded to between Friday and Monday afternoon; three of them were on Hillview Circuit alone.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, a southwesterly wind gust of 80km/h was recorded at Kiama's Bombo Headland weather station at 8.32pm on Saturday.
Mr Kearin said the wind speed wasn't out of the ordinary.
"About two or three nights before [the tree fell] we had a really big downpour of rain and I think that's just softened that [the ground around the tree's base]," he said.
"I think it was due to go anyway, but that was kind of the catalyst to make it go when a decent gust came up."
Mr Kearin was insured but expects to still be out-of-pocket.
He said the damage "could have been a lot worse" if the tree fell more towards the front of the house and not the driveway.
"We're very, very lucky," he said.
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Andrew Pearson
Andrew grew up in the western Riverina town of Hay and has strong ties to the region. He is a former DA journo who has a passion for breaking news and has covered everything from council and politics to crime and court.
Andrew grew up in the western Riverina town of Hay and has strong ties to the region. He is a former DA journo who has a passion for breaking news and has covered everything from council and politics to crime and court.
