Four months on from the freak storm which caused significant damage across Lithgow, small business The Barking Owl remains homeless.
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It was one of a number of buildings in the CBD of Lithgow which were damaged during the December 20 event, which lasted only minutes but caused millions of dollars worth of damage.
Buildings affected included the Lithgow City Council works depot, the old Westfund building and there was also damage to a number of homes and schools.
The antique and collectibles business had been operating near the top end of Main Street for almost three years when the devastating storm struck just before Christmas.
Small business owner Heather Mahony said she was very disappointed and shocked when it all happened.
"It was extremely unexpected and I was surprised when it happened, I couldn't believe it," she said.
Ms Mahony said, when the storm hit, it managed to suck the air out between the upstairs office floor above her business and her ceiling.
"It lifted my ceiling out, and once the air returned to normal the ceiling collapsed into my shop, I was extremely lucky that it didn't fully collapse and I was fortunate to get some builders to stabilise it while I got my stock out of there," she said.
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Four months on from the destruction, the shop building is still in the process of repairs and Ms Mahony says she is still considering her options.
"It's had a fairly major impact, you know I'm out of business and it happened four days before Christmas, it's every small shop owner's worst nightmare," she said.
She also said she might re-open in a different premises, but she was still uncertain.
"The builders have said it will be quite a big job... and the people who actually own the building, I'm sure they aren't thrilled about it either.
"It was just a very strange weather event and it makes me wonder if we will see more of it," she said.
Ms Mahony said it was still a long road ahead but she was going to take her time in re-thinking her options and hoped to make a comeback.
Lithgow was declared a natural disaster area following the storm, which felled trees and ripped off roofs around the area as well as causing flooding.
Disaster assistance was announced for the area on Friday, December 21.
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