DEBEAUFORT Drive resident Keeley Lappa said she was grateful Monday’s tornado hit Dubbo’s eastern outskirts and not the city, where she fears the carnage would have been even worse.
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“I’d hate to think what would have happened if it had been in town,” Keeley said.
“Even though it was horrible for us it was better that it was out here. In town, with all of the houses so close together, there would have been a lot more carnage and more chance of someone getting hurt.”
Keeley was in the family home with her mother when the tornado hit, and said the noise alerted them to the danger.
“It was really quick, it just ripped through. The only reason nobody was hurt was that it was so loud we all heard it coming. If it was quiet I don’t know what would have happened.”
- Keeley Lappa
“At first I thought it was a whirlwind so I ran outside and something flew right past me - I think it was a tree or a log. It looked like it was just starting.”
Keeley and her mother hid in a bedroom cupboard, and she said that before she knew it, it was over.
“It just felt like a lot of pressure on the house,” she said.
“It was really quick, it just ripped through. The only reason nobody was hurt was that it was so loud we all heard it coming. If it was quiet I don’t know what would have happened.”
Her father Frank arrived home to find a neighbour’s trailer lodged in his front yard, with part of the trailer protruding through a bedroom window.
“It would have had to have gone, if it was up near the shed, three or even 400 metres,” Mr Lappa said.
“I was on my way home and by the time we got to the top [of Mugga Hill] it looked like two D9s had gone through and just lost control. I got home and saw the trailer against the wall and I said to [my son] ‘I think we’re in a bit of trouble here.‘“
The tornado also laid waste to the Lappa’s back shed, lifting the entire roof off the structure and depositing it on the ground beside the walls, two of which are still standing. The winds were so forceful they drove a steel trampoline pole through the family’s water tank.
“We don’t exactly know what structural damage, if there’s any,”: Mr Lappa said.
“We don’t really know the total cost will be but I’d say it’ll be substantial.”
Keeley Lappa still can’t believe such a weather event happened in Dubbo.
“I’ve never seen anything like that. It was so surreal it was like in a movie,” she said.
“You see this stuff on TV but it’s not something you ever think will happen to you.”