Family survives flying shed nightmare

A YOUNG Dalyston family has miraculously escaped injury after extreme winds hurled an entire tin shed into their long-term rental home, sending steel through windows and showering their five-week-old baby’s bassinet with broken glass.

Jessica and Jamie Joyce and their four children were asleep at their Station Street home when the destructive weather first struck at 5am on Wednesday, July 29.

Two cars were believed to have been written off, and a third was badly damaged.

Parts of the shed were scattered across the property, in what was a messy aftermath.

Despite debris smashing through both the master bedroom as well as the room occupied by the couple’s seven and four-year-old children, nobody was injured.

All the family’s pets, including cats, a dog and a rabbit, also survived completely unharmed.

Jessica had just fed the couple’s five-week-old baby when the weather first began to intensify.

“We heard the thunder and lightning, and the wind had picked up significantly,” she said.

“All of a sudden, we heard a crack of thunder and lightning, and then it just went boom, the windows shattered, it actually crossed my mind to think a bomb had gone off.”

Jamie huddled over Jessica and their newborn baby as glass and debris flew through the bedroom, and the wall was also pierced by a piece of metal right near Jamie’s head.

“Luckily, the baby was in our bed, because if he had been in the bassinet, it was covered in glass,” Jessica said.

Her attention immediately turned to her other children.

“I shouted, ‘The kids’, jumped over Jamie and ran,” she said.

Jessica collected the two younger kids from their room, while Jamie carried the baby down the hallway to reach 17-year-old Taliah.

The family then gathered in the lounge room, unsure of whether more impact was to come.

“We didn’t know what had happened or if it was going to happen again,” Jessica said.

Taliah said she woke when heavy rain began pounding the house.

“It started thundering and then there was lightning, and I was like, ‘it’s just a storm, it’s fine,” she said.

“Then I heard a big bang and thought, ‘No, I’m up, I’m out’. It didn’t sound very good.”

The Year 12 student’s car, which she bought just months earlier, was among the vehicles believed to have been written off.

A dog kennel valued at about $2000 was also destroyed after being blown about 100 metres from where it originally was.

In yet another fortunate situation, the family had chosen to let their dog sleep elsewhere that night, and they believe the dog would’ve been carried away with the kennel had it been inside.

Jessica said she was still struggling to process just how narrowly the family had escaped injury, or worse.

“I’m still in shock. I can barely string a sentence together,” she said.

“It’s a bit overwhelming.”

The family left the damaged property shortly after the incident and will now stay with Jamie’s father, Glen, in Wonthaggi.

Glen believed the highly localised damage may have been caused by a “mini tornado” or a microburst, although the cause had not been officially confirmed.

He said the family had been expecting rain and some wind, but received no indication that such intense conditions would strike the home.

Glen also questioned whether trees previously located nearby could have provided some protection.

He said the trees had been removed just a month earlier, ahead of a proposed subdivision.

“If the trees had been there, it probably wouldn’t have hit,” he said.

The owner of the property has been contacted by the family, who said they were happy everyone was safe.