The wild winds arrived early this year, with winds reaching gusts of 100km/hour at Bombo on Friday 15 June.

Lauren Clough, of Kiama SES, reports that their teams were called out to multiple jobs on the Friday and Saturday nights, dealing with trees down, trampolines blown out of yards and patio walls blowing out.

“Luckily by Sunday the weather wasn’t as wild as predicted,” she says.

The damage done to the Kiama Events sign on the same weekend was not due to wind, but a car crashing into it.

To prepare your property for storms and damaging winds, the NSW State Emergency Service advises that people should:

• secure or put away loose items around your house, yard and balcony, such as furniture and trampolines
• trim any loose branches
• move vehicles under cover or away from trees
• clean out your gutters and drains
• keep at least eight metres away from fallen power lines or objects that could be energised, such as fences.

For emergency help in floods and storms call the NSW SES on 132 500.

Details: Those interested in being a volunteer member of the award winning Kiama brigade should go to  www.ses.nsw.gov.au/volunteer