Lithgow City Council will be investigating whether the storm, which hit with devastating force at about 5.35pm can be classified as a natural disaster.

Homes remain without power after more than 16,000 homes were initially blacked out. 

The council works depot store building partially collapsed, while roofs were partially torn from other buildings within Lithgow. Trees were pulled up and some ended up on homes, including one home on Hayley Street, which has been cordoned off from traffic, and another which fell from Lithgow Public School’s grounds onto a neighbouring property’s shed.

For people driving when the storm hit, the afternoon became a sudden midnight of driving rain and large hailstones. There were reports of cracked windscreens and narrow misses from falling tree limbs. Hailstones punched holes in skylight roofs.

A search was carried out at Glanmire Oval after a tent which has been pitched at the site for some time was crushed by a falling tree. No one was inside it at the time.

The roof of the old Westfund building on Railway Parade was partially stripped away, leaving the bare wooden beams broken and exposed on Friday morning. That section of Railway Parade was sectioned off by council staff.

Part of the council works depot’s store building on Mort Street, Lithgow, was significantly damaged in the storm. The front section of brick sheared off and fell into the street on Thursday afternoon, leaving a pile of brick and debris. The site remains off limits.

READ MORE: Opportunistic thieves loot Lithgow Council depot

Council's director of infrastructure services Jonathon Edgecombe said it would need to be assessed before everything could be removed from the aged building. The electricity supply would also have to be diverted from the building, as it supplies the rest of the site.  It would then be decommissioned.

“Outside of that, there was significant trees over roads and access issues,” he said.

Crews worked on rotation through the night with emergency service crews from the SES, VRA and RFS to help address some of the issues.

Mr Edgecombe said the council would be looking into whether the storm could be declared a regional disaster by the Federal Government to allow it to access funding to assist with the cost of repairs.

“While the Lithgow township seems to have been the hardest hit, there were crews assisting in all the outlying villages - almost all the way into the Wolgan Valley, Hampton, Tarana, Wallerawang, Portland…”

He said he was pleased that council was able to help coordinate the response efforts, working with so many different emergency services from throughout the region.

Lithgow Police received 75 calls at the height of the storm and were needed to direct traffic at the intersection of Main Street and the Great Western Highway after the power failed. 

Mr Edgecombe urged anyone with issues that are related to council services to continue to contact council, which will still be providing essential services over the Christmas period.

A spokesperson for Endeavour Energy reminded people to be caution after storms. 

“Residents are reminded not to touch or go near fallen powerlines but to keep themselves and others well clear and call Endeavour Energy on 131 003 to report them,” he said. 

“We would like to thank customers for their patience and goodwill as our crews work to safely clean up the widespread damage caused by this latest storm.”

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