Much of the Manning and Great Lakes was smashed by hail as thunderstorms rolled into the area on the afternoon of Thursday, October 26.
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During the storm, NSW SES Mid North Coast received more than 60 requests for assistance, with more requests coming in on the morning of Friday, October 27.
SES crews completed 28 of those jobs. We have crews in the affected areas today working through 35 outstanding requests for assistance, with volunteers from Harrington, Taree, Wingham, Nabiac and Stroud being joined by a crew from Camden Haven Unit, an SES spokesman said.
In the Great Lakes the SES received 47 calls for assistance from residents in Nabiac, Failford, Tallwoods and Black Head. Forster and Tuncurry miraculously escaped the tennis-ball sized hail, but there were reports some hail fell at Bennetts Head.
Local controller, Ben Matters said roof damage, fallen trees and power lines were the main issues.
Six teams of four volunteers along with the five member incident management team worked throughout the night attending emergency situations.
Volunteers tarped major damaged roofs or triaged, Mr Matters said.
Mr Matters said it was hoped all jobs could be completed by Saturday.
“Everybody should be contacted and updated. We have had a large volume of jobs in a short time,” he said.
Fallen trees and power lines near Manns Road, Darawank forced the closure of The Lakes Way for several hours causing major delays for traffic.
One motorist said The Lakes Way resembled a car park.
Driving from Tamworth, the motorist decided to travel down Black Head Road and through unsealed roads to reach Forster.
Other motorists returned to Forster via the Pacific Highway and the Lakes Way north of Bulahdelah.
Carmel Spark wondered if Nabiac was at the epicentre of the storm as it shredded plants and flooded parts of her house.
The storm also interferred with plans for the NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian’s visit to Pacific Palms on Friday.