4 Rivers Unit members returned to Canberra exhausted but feeling successful yesterday after an arduous couple of days in Blacktown (city North-West of Parramatta in the Sydney area) performing numerous storm damage jobs, almost exclusively to hail damaged roofs.  The ACT Taskforce, including Rivers Unit, was focussed on Doonside, a suburb of Blacktown, where the roofs of hundreds of houses (and other property included vehicles) had been damaged by pelting hailstones, some of which were over 7cm in diameter!

 Crews soldiered on with their tasks, despite the air temperatures that reached a scorching 37ºC (98.6ºF) on the ground (and were even hotter up on the roofs).  Although many SES members did suffer from the heat, the effects of which were exacerbated by the need to wear full personal protective clothing and equipment (including over-jackets and pants/ overalls, Kevlar helmets, gloves and boots regardless of the temperature), repairs to house roofs were not slowed.  During the course of this blistering afternoon, the Rivers crew were atop a two-storey roof, where the heat was even worse.  They only got down when the job was done.