Hail, Redfern
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday April 22, 1999
Ice is nice in a glass of gin, but its welcome in Sydney has worn very thin.
MASHED roofs, broken windows, shattered skylights, soaking carpets - last Wednesday night's hail storm wreaked havoc across inner-city Redfern. The repair operation is mammoth.
For the past week, State Emergency Service workers and firefighters have helped residents secure tarpaulins over roofs and cope with the damage caused by the worst storm in Sydney's history.
Entire rows of terraces are now shrouded in plastic and canvas. Piles of debris, rotting carpets and broken tiles line Redfern's nature strips.
"The houses with tiled roofs really copped it; those with corrugated metal roofs fared much better. Our office in Boronia Street was absolutely hammered," says local real estate agent Michael King.
Several weeks ago, King sold a property in Marriott Street at auction for $415,000, setting a street record. But the roof of the three-bedroom terrace suffered during the storm, and King expects settlement on the property may be held up until the insurance company and builders rectify the damage.
"Many proposed auction schedules have been thrown into chaos. Owners are waiting for the outcome of their insurance assessors, then they'll have to join the queues awaiting tilers and builders to fix the damage. It's a shocking mess," says King.
But the auction of John and Nicki Harrison's Marriott Street house will go ahead this Saturday. Despite a few broken tiles, minimal damage was inflicted on the renovated and extended terrace, as the rear section has a
corrugated metal roof. A clause has been added to the Harrisons' contract of sale stipulating storm damage will be rectified before settlement.
Pauline Goodyear of McGrath Partners, who is handling the sale, says buyers interested in the property have been understanding. In fact, Goodyear predicts the Marriott Street record price may be surpassed when the gavel falls on the two-bedroom, single-storey terrace.
Sandy Edwards, co-director of the Stills Gallery in Paddington, is one of Redfern's lucky residents. Her single-storey terrace in Zamia Street came through the maelstrom unscathed as the house has deep eaves and a corrugated metal roof. "A lot of dust was shaken down from the roof, that was all. And my car was pockmarked," says Edwards, who looked after a terrified refugee cat for two nights.
But other Zamia Street home owners were not so lucky, particularly those whose houses have tiled roofs and south-easterly aspects. And the exposed corner houses were very badly affected.
Number four Zamia Street, a three-bedroom single-storey terrace up for lease, sustained damage, according to Ron Peterson, the managing agent.
"Since the storm, we've faxed a three-page list of damages to properties we manage to our glaziers," says Peterson. "It's going to take months and months to rectify all this."
Style: Terrace houses
Price range: From about $250,000 to more than $400,000
Transport: Buses and trains
Facilities: Redfern park and oval, nearby mall and strip shopping
© 1999 Sydney Morning Herald