General News
29 January, 2025
Cloncurry cops a battering after fierce storm cell hits commuity
Hundreds of trees and branches were felled as Cloncurry suffered through a tornado-like storm.
Cloncurry Shire CEO Philip Keirle has praised the community’s can-do spirit after the town rallied to help one another in the aftermath of a severe storm on Friday afternoon.
The Bureau of Meteorology put out a warning for the storm, but it came as it was virtually on the doorstep of Cloncurry as gusts of up to 107km/h caused widespread damage across the township.
Many copped damage to their roofs and fences, while hundreds of trees were damaged in what was a “tornado-like” storm that lasted just a few minutes.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said long-time Cloncurry local Joe Bakhash.
The roof of the Leichhardt Hotel was one of the most visibly damaged businesses in Cloncurry, while the public swimming pool was closed for several days after the storm caused damage to shade structures.
Mr Keirle said it didn’t take long for the phones to light up with reports of damage.
“I was in my office when it happened and there was a little bit of drizzle coming down and then all of a sudden it went sideways and everyone who was in the office jumped outside to have a look at what was going on,” he said.
“The phone started to light up, my partner was sending me photos of our trampoline that had taken flight and jumped on top of the Hills Hoist.
“It was over within a pretty short period of time.
“Then it was just a case of sending everybody out to assess the damage and seeing all the photos and videos come through of hailstones and trampolines and downed trees and all the rest of it.”
The CEO said the council was operating on a skeleton staff on the Friday afternoon before the long weekend, but praised the council workers and community members for pitching in to get the clean-up started.
“Everyone rallied to help and those who had damaged houses were able to be relocated with family and friends,” Mr Keirle said.
“We initially fielded a call (for someone needing accommodation) and worked with Queensland Health and with the Department of Housing out of Mount Isa and they had a solution in play for commercial accommodation, but it was sorted out through friends and family, which is what you want.”
The council’s assets were insured, with the swimming pool and cemetery copping most of the damage.
Mount Isa-based Western Area Controller Sandra Wallison said the SES received plenty of calls for assistance.
She said several volunteers from Mount Isa made the trip to Cloncurry on Friday afternoon to help with the clean-up.
Several SES tarps could be seen on buildings throughout Cloncurry on Saturday, although locals had to help erect them.
Ms Wallison said there was a lack of certified volunteers in the region to work at heights.
“We can do work from the ground but SES has to follow the guidelines,” she said.
“However, the team was able to identify, adapt and overcome, and worked with locals to get the tarps on roofs.”
She encouraged Cloncurry residents to consider signing up to the local SES unit.
Meanwhile, Ergon Energy crews were quick to respond after the storm knocked out power to much of Cloncurry.
“While Friday afternoon’s storm was intense, with wind gusts over 100km/h and more than 20,000 lightning strikes within a 100km radius of Cloncurry, local crews were able to get the power back on to nearly 1500 properties within a few hours,” an Ergon spokesperson told North West Weekly.
“The most significant outage, which affected the whole town, was from 3.12pm to 6.30pm.
“Our crews are part of the community and very grateful to everyone for their support whenever severe weather events strike, whether it’s a storm, bushfire, flood or heatwave.”
