The ‘once in a half century’ blizzard was triggered by the fringe effects of a dramatic east coast low that was bringing cyclonic conditions to Sydney and the South Coast on Tuesday night.

It took Lithgow and the Upper Mountains by surprise and triggered a huge late night response by all emergency services.

It was the heaviest fall of snow in the Lithgow valley since September 1970 and blackouts, closed roads and suspended rail services paralysed the city for a time.

As the snow cleared and the clean up began the costs of the storm was becoming evident.

Some of the biggest losses were in local supermarkets where perishable ‘chilled’ stock had to be dumped after refrigeration systems failed for hours in the blackout.

Empty shelves told the sad story on Wednesday afternoon.

Unlike the enclosed refrigerated cabinets the open chill shelves were unable to retain the recommended temperatures for any extended period.

A spokesperson at one major supermarket told the Mercury that losses at that store alone would be many thousands of dollars.

Structural damage at some premises will add to the damages bill.

At D and J Ford in Chifley Road a large area of carpet was ruined after packed snow blocked rooftop drains.

An even heavier loss was at Lithgow High School where the weight of snow caused a large outdoor education building to collapse.

The building, roughly half the size of a football field, was left a shattered wreck.

There were few students at the school at the time apart from HSC exam candidates.

Smaller playground shelters at St Patrick’s school also collapsed.

Apart from the structural damage the cost in time and labour for both council and private property owners in removing fallen trees will be huge.

Then there’s the financial cost to Endeavour Energy in the massive task of restoring fallen power lines ... the list goes on and on and on!

For the outdoor staff at Lithgow Council, the clean-up of the Lithgow area started from first light on Wednesday morning following the big snow storm.

Lithgow mayor Maree Statham said the area received one of the biggest snow falls in recent history.

“Unfortunately this storm has caused a massive amount of damage across the area with many many trees being affected, fences being brought down and of course damage to our road network.

“Council staff were at work very early [Wednesday morning] assessing the damage and starting the repairs and are doing tremendous work in getting things back to normal.

“Completing the repairs is going to take some time but I do feel that residents will be understanding and patient.

“Priorities will have to go to those areas where there are trees or large tree limbs on the road or impacting on power lines along with those impacting on peoples’ safety such as trees threatening power lines.

“The clean-up is expected to take several weeks though.

“Staff will also be looking at the possibility of making a claim for assistance from the State Government for the damage.

“To assist residents with the clean-up an extra green waste collection is being scheduled and further details of this will be publicised in the coming week.

“Unfortunately with the power outage from the snow storm the telephone lines to the Council administration building were also impacted, while a temporary arrangement was put in place some people may have been affected.

“It is rather remarkable that almost 12 months to the day that last year we were dealing with one of the worst bush fires in our history and now we have this.

“It does remind me of Dorothea Mackellar’s poem ‘My Country’” Cr Statham said.