Marble Bar storm: Wind gusts destroy at least six homes during severe weather event

A Marble Bar resident has recounted the terrifying moment a “tornado” ripped off the roof of a home and “spun it around” during a freak storm.

Locals sheltered on Thursday night after the Bureau of Meteorology advised that an isolated severe thunderstorm — with wind gusts of 115km/h — had developed over the town.

Marble Bar Community Resource Centre coordinator Barry Harris said he was driving when he saw a tornado tear off a roof and “spin it around”.

“It was blizzard conditions — stinging, horizontal rain,” he said.

“I watched the tail of a tornado turn into a fish hook and suck back into the clouds . . . I got another 50 or so metres down the road, and 100m in front of me it popped out of the clouds, took the roof off one house and spun it around.

“It went through powerlines and was gone out of view . . . I later found (the roof) outside of the town this morning.”

Mr Harris said at least two families had been left homeless because of the storm damage.

“People have been left homeless and then you’ve got asbestos on top of that, so that’s creating a hazard as well,” he said.

“It happened very quickly, it was ferocious and it could have been deadly.”

Mr Harris said his home was just metres away from being destroyed by a falling gum tree.

“I’m watching the debris unfold and ... houses losing their roofs and going down the street, and I’m about eight or nine houses away from that,” he said.

“We had a fence come down after a big gum tree went through it and split into three and landed around our cars, but there’s no structural damage to the house.”

Mr Harris said the community was rallying together to fix the damage.

“Everyone is in good spirits because no one got injured ... we just got a lot of damage and people without homes in a town that already has a housing crisis so it’ll be tough moving forward,” he said.

“It’s a small, close knit community ... so everyone is reaching out saying ‘what can I do? How can I help? What do you need?’

“This morning I’m still shaking my head, looking at the damage around town, thinking, ‘how wasn’t someone killed?’”

Department of Fire and Emergency Services assistant commissioner Peter Sutton confirmed at least five homes were “uninhabitable” after the storm tore off their roofs as well as further damage to 11 properties.

“We also had an ablution block at a caravan park which was completely destroyed,” he said.

“Currently, five properties have asbestos containing debris and we have emergency crews on site who are dealing with that hazard.”

There were no reports of injuries.

He said there was a storm watch and act still in place as a result of the hazard of asbestos in Marble Bar.

“Emergency Services and local government crews as far as the metropolitan area will be assisting the residents of the town over the weekend during a clean up given the concerns about asbestos,” Mr Sutton said.

“I’d just like to reinforce we’re advising the community to stay away from damaged homes and take care when moving around the town.”

Residents also reported instances of flooding as a result of the heavy rainfall.

The storm left at least 50 homes without power, with Horizon Power resolving the issue on Friday.

Bureau of Meteorology spokesman James Ashby said the damage was caused by a sudden thunderstorm which lasted only minutes.

“Maximum wind gusts were recorded at Marble Bar of 115 kilometers per hour just after 6pm yesterday evening,” he said.

“Early indications suggest this was severe microburst from a thunderstorm but there’s still possibility that the damage was caused by a tornado as many thunderstorms do carry the risk of tornado activity.

“A microburst is basically a downdraft coming out of the thunderstorm that hits the ground and spreads out very violently and produces wind gusts.”

Annabelle Copplin — who lives on Yarrie Station about 90km north of Marble Bar — said the rain was welcome.

“Rain is extremely important for this country at the moment . . . we don’t get any rain, we just get dust storms here,” she said.

“I’m getting calls that rivers are flooding but rivers always run at this time of the year.”

Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson has labelled the storm a “freak incident”.

“That really was a freak incident last night at Marble Bar, and we have team now on the ground doing some assessment,” he said.

“We did open an evacuation centre last night, although local people chose to stay with family or friends or the local hotel.”

The minister said climate change would lead to more sudden weather events.

“This is climate change,” Mr Dawson said. “It is an undeniable fact that with the changing climate we are seeing more freak weather events, and whether they’re bushfires or indeed, floods or a storm like last night, we are seeing those increase in frequency.

“We need to have our emergency services out and ready to respond, whether they’re career or SES volunteers.

“We have got amazing workers in this space around the State, and they always drop everything to get out there to help local communities quickly.”