Thunderstorms Canberra TUE 27/02/07

[Guest Fred Bear]

Looking at the Radar this evening looks as though Canberra is getting hammered by storms. Would love to hear from those of you down there. It's even gone off the most extreme colour scale on the radar :black_eye:

 

 

[slartibartfast]

I'm in Tuggeranong, so south of the heaviest, but we had an excellent display in 360 degrees for hours. Some really heavy rain too.

 

I'll see what the city is like in the morning. It must have been hammered.

 

I was watching the radar too.

 

 

[slartibartfast]

Well Darren, got into town this morning and was amazed.

 

At 00am there was still piles of hail 12 inches deep in lots of places, with occasional mounds 3 feet high.

 

Many buildings are damaged and closed, streets are closed, people sent home - including in my building - the top couple of floors are nearly destroyed. My floor is fine for now, but they expect the cascade to work its way down later.

 

Here's my car in the car park when I got in (snapped with my phone so excuse the quality).

 

[ATTACH]2155.vB[/ATTACH]

 

I'll post some more later. Still emailing them to myself from my phone (no cables for it at work).

 

Ross

 

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

I knew it was a good one when I saw that radar mate! Thanks for that. Looking forward to seeing some other pics. Rest assured, if there is any storm activity about I usually know about it! I get phone calls, emails and all sorts of other contact. I'm not complaining though.

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Hailstorm closes city schools, businesses

 

February 28, 2007 08:56am

 

Article from: AAP

 

SCHOOLS, universities and government departments are closed today after a severe electrical and hail storm battered northern Canberra overnight.

 

The Australian National University was shut, as was the exclusive private school Canberra Grammar, Campbell High, sections of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and the National Health and Medical Research Council.

 

Crews are working to cut through hail drifts up to 1m deep on roads heading into the city's central business district.

 

Civic suffered extensive damage as hail blocked gutters causing them to overflow into shops and offices.

 

Critical communication infrastructure, including Telstra's civic exchange, was also damaged overnight but the extent of damage is still unclear.

 

In a city unused to peak-hour traffic, the morning commute for thousands of people travelling from Canberra's northern suburbs including Belconnen and Gungahlin was strangled.

 

ACT State Emergency Service (SES) chief officer Tony Graham said the SES had received about 100 calls for help, with 40 officers working through the night.

 

"The majority of jobs have been for flooding and hail damage with a number of residential properties sustaining collapsed ceilings," he said.

 

Mr Graham said the storm struck late last night causing widespread damage from Civic through to Belconnen in Canberra's north.

 

He said the SES expected more calls this morning as people woke up to discover damage to their properties.

 

 

[slartibartfast]

Here's a few I took this morning.

 

And here's some a friend gave me - taken last night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Nice pics there Ross. Thanks for sharing! :)

 

 

[pylon500]

Appearantly, around 12 aircraft damaged by hail at Canberra during the storm.

 

I may be heading down on Monday to do some quotes.

 

Arthur.

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Flying down Arthur? Ha ha. I can't come anyway, got a job interview at Sydney Airport (the posi I was telling you about). Quotes will run into quite a bit of cash I imagine mate? I was not surprised in hearing there were a/c damaged. Pics if you can...

 

 

[Matt]

Yeah, one of those 12 damaged aircraft would be ours, so the Sportstar isn't looking quite as special as it used to. Nothing serious and it's still flyable, just bloody disappointing and frustrating. Looks like it will require a reskin of the wings and horizontal stabilzer and will be out of action for about a month. Will be flying down to the Shepparton fly-in and Avalon and when we get back it'll be into the shop for repairs.

 

Worse thing - only recently got a new canopy cover and decided not to get the full wing / tailplane cover...20/20 hindsight!

 

 

[Ultralights]

being a composite structures guy, we made a nice little earn ofter the big hail storms that hit sydney some years ago! though the approved repair was nothing but a layer of Bog!! i wouldnt be surprised if we added at least 250 Kg of weight in Bog to those aircraft! (the QF 747,s that is)

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

I'm so sorry to hear it Matt Still flyable mate? We will be there (at The Oaks) all weekend.

 

 

[pylon500]

when we get back it'll be into the shop for repairs.

Do you already have a shop in mind?

The insurance companies have given us a list that includes a SportStar, but I can't remember the rego?

 

Much cheaper if aircraft fixed at Bankstown can be flown there.

 

Arthur.

 

 

[Matt]

hi Arthur, at this stage we're getting 3 quotes for QBE - one from a group at Cootamundra, 'someone' from Bankstown - maybe you guys? and Rex at Merimbula Aircraft Maintenance. It's more than likely we'll get Rex to do it as he has been our LAME since we got the aircraft and has a good relationship with the factory...also has an identical Sportstar based at Merimbula for reference (including same paint scheme).

 

hey Darren - Sunday morning might be a goer for The Oaks, we're heading down to Merimbula tomorrow so Rex can put his quote together, needed a destination for a flight with my brother on Sunday...might just be time to pay you guys a visit again.

 

Cheers,

 

Matt.

 

 

[slartibartfast]

Hey Matt. Sorry to hear about the damage.

 

Very unlucky. If you had gone the full cover would it have protected it from the huge hailstones?

 

Hope it gets sorted soon. At least you can still fly it.

 

Ross