Storms, heavy rain and drought have combined to keep Orange City State Emergency Service busy in the past few days.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
On Friday morning, the SES was called to a property in March Street after a tree fell onto a garage that had a car inside it.
Orange City unit commander Inspector Rob Stevens said the unit also received several calls overnight on Friday into Saturday morning due to heavy winds and rain.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, 17.2 millimetres of rain was recorded by 9am on Friday and another 43.6 millimetres was recorded by 9am on Saturday.
"There's been a few [calls] through the night," Mr Stevens said.
"There was a couple of large trees on Huntley Road and trees on houses and that type of thing.
"I started getting calls about 6pm [Friday] night."
He said he also received calls about 2am and then again about 7am.
"It was not too drastic with the amount of wind and rain, it was absolutely howling through here [Friday] night," Mr Stevens said.
Mr Stevens said there were fewer SES members in each vehicle, with more vehicles being sent out to protect the volunteers and reduce their risk of catching COVID-19.
"I believe that's pretty well standard for all emergency services," he said.
As well as the Friday and Saturday call-outs, Mr Stevens said the Orange City SES was also called out to help with a vehicle recovery from fast-flowing water at Cumnock on March 25.
Mr Stevens said the SES got confirmation that there was no one inside the vehicle, that had washed up against a footbridge, about 10 minutes before arriving at the site.
"It has been so far a pretty busy year," he said.
"It's hard to pin down, storms do make up a huge part of it but it's also because of the prolonged drought.
"Trees dry out and crack in the wind and as soon as it rains those cracks fill with water and add a bit of sunlight to it and all of a sudden it's raining trees."
VIDEO: Fast flowing water where a car washed up against a bridge in Cumnock...
Mrs Stevens said the storm season will continue until late April.
"Storm season has a way of coming around on us and having one last dig at the end of April," he said.
He advised people to tie down items in backyards such as trampolines and clean out gutters and down pipes to reduce damage.
He also advised people to not walk, drive or play in flood waters or near storm water drains and do not shelter under trees during heavy wind.
DO YOU WANT MORE ORANGE NEWS?
- Receive our free newsletters delivered to your inbox, as well as breaking news alerts. Sign up below ...
Tanya Marschke
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
