Wild weather destroys roof at Kings Meadows

Residents Darcy and Nellie Camm watched as their neighbours roof crashed through their patio about midday. 

“We were standing out the back and it smashed through the patio,” Mr Camm said. 

“We watched it come through, it went boom, and we were like,’what the hell, quick get to the back of the house’,” he said.

The Camm’s described the scene as “pretty crazy”. 

“It sounded like a bomb,” Mr Camm said.

It was a distressing scene for the Camm’s two young children. 

“The kids were hysterical,” Ms Camm said. 

State Emergency Service Tasmania regional manager Mhairi Revie said they received more than 30 calls by Tuesday afternoon, but she expected that number to increase as people returned home after work. 

Another roof was blown off at Youngtown, Ms Revie said. 

“The SES is rendering those properties safe and tarping up possessions in the house so they can remain as dry and safe as possible,” she said.

“We advise people, especially during inclement weather like this, to listen to the radio, news channels and social media to stay tuned to the warnings.”

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Alex Melitfis said there would be a cold southwesterly change on Tuesday night, with a chance of snow flurries down to sea levels on Wednesday morning. 

Showers were expected to ease into the afternoon and clear by Wednesday evening. 

“There will still be a fairly gusty airstream but no where near like [Tuesday],” he said. 

Wind gusts peaked at 89km/ph in Launceston on Tuesday.

“It wasn’t really the gusts that were the issue, it was the fact that the winds were so strong and sustained for such a long period of time,” Mr Melitfis said.

“Because the winds were meeting 60km/ph for such long periods of time it puts a lot of stress of infrastructure and trees.”

For more information of the wild weather that lashed through Northern Tasmania on Tuesday check out The Examiner’s rolling coverage.