Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last month the temperature dropped and a severe storm descended on northern Sydney, hitting my electorate of Berowra especially hard. There were hailstones the size of golf balls falling at my home in Pennant Hills, corrugated shed roofs at Maraylya were punctured with gaping holes and car and property damage occurred all over the electorate.

Over just one weekend, our brave volunteers at the Hills and Hornsby State Emergency Services received over 1600 calls for their assistance and they continued to serve late into Sunday night and the following week. The Insurance Council of Australia recorded more than 12,000 insurance claims with damages estimated at $31 million following the hailstorm across Sydney.

With the assistance of the surrounding Rural Fire Service brigades, the teams at the Hornsby and Hills SES cleared fallen trees and branches blocking egress areas, patched leaking roofs and assisted residents battling with water inundation.

I was pleased to personally thank the Hornsby and Hills SES volunteers at their headquarters during the February storms. The wet and wild weather continued in Sydney just this month. Last weekend persistent rainfall eventually took its toll with localised flooding on roads at Galston. The wild weather can catch us by surprise, but the response of our brilliant community volunteers does not.

The New South Wales SES are reliable and resilient. They are the backbone of the Berowra electorate in bad weather and are trained to deal with a range of issues that arise in situations like these. I would like to thank Reinoud Beijerinck, local controller of the Hornsby SES, Evelyn Lester, unit leader of the Hills SES and all the volunteers of the SES, the Rural Fire Service and Fire and Rescue New South Wales for their continued dedication to serving our community in times of need.