When Bruce Rock mixed farmer Josh Fuchsbichler was called to help fight a fire on a neighbour's property last week, he had no idea disaster was about to unfold on his own property.
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Unprecedented summer storms lashed the Wheatbelt, Goldfields and Great Southern region on Wednesday, leaving cyclone-like damage and, in some parts, knocking out essential services including water, fuel, power and mobile phone reception.
Mr Fuchsbichler's 3000 hectare cropping and 2500-head Merino property was among those hit and his shearing shed was almost completely destroyed.
"I wasn't actually home at the time.. I'd been called to a fire on a neighbour's property, so I was heading there," Mr Fuchsbichler said.
"As I was driving down the driveway it started to rain, so I thought I won't rush.
"By the time I arrived the rain had put the fire out - we just had a bit of mopping up to do and then, as you do, had a chat among ourselves."
Mr Fuschbichler headed home about 40 minutes later, and noticed a large number of trees laying across the road and then a piece of tin down his driveway.
Thinking it was strange, he decided to look out for any infrastructure damage, before seeing his five-stand shearing shed had practically been blown apart.
"I realised one of those isolated, old-fashioned cock-eyed bobs as I call them, or mini tornadoes, had hit," Mr Fuschbichler said.
"Half of the shearing shed roof was gone and the back part was crumbled in a big mess - that was taken out by the wind I'd say.
"I was in a bit of a shock when I seen it.
"I'd only had the shed rewired a couple of years ago, so it was in very good condition.
"I reckon it could be a write-off but I'm waiting on the assessor to come out and have a look and I'll go from there."
Damage was also done to a shade cloth, fencing and sliding gate feeder, which looked like it had been picked up by the wind and thrown into the back of a workshop.
Separately, a large tree had been moved three to four metres from where it was rooted in the ground and the power was taken out for a number of days.
Fortunately, no livestock were harmed.
Speaking to Farm Weekly on Monday, Mr Fuchsbichler said he was living on the "bare essentials" of electricity.
"The power first went out last Tuesday and then came back on that night, before it was completely knocked out the next day," he said.
"There was a power pole that had been snapped off about three or four kilometres south of our driveway in a neighbour's paddock.
"The power still hasn't been restored, I have a generator running to keep the fridges and freezers going - it is using a lot of petrol."
Having experienced summer thunderstorms before, Mr Fuchsbichler said they were expected this time of year.
He believed long hot spells and a thunderstorm for a day or in the afternoon were typical of an Australian summer.
However a run of consecutive substantial thunderstorms, like those that were seen last week, were something he hadn't seen in a while.
"Last week, we had a thunderstorm on Sunday, then basically Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were quite warm, I think about 40 degrees," Mr Fuchsbichler said.
"It was like that for a week and a half."
Finding a positive in the storm, Mr Fuchsbichler said summer rain, off the back of the storm, would help with the subsoil moisture for his cropping program.
He said it would also ease the pressure carrying 250-head extra old ewes at a time he normally wouldn't.
"That rain has given us a bit of a green pick to keep them going, so I'm not having to supplementary feed with hay, oats and lupins as much through the warmer months.
"The storms helped in the way of feed because I still have my cull mutton ewes on the farm, which would normally be gone in about August-September.
"I have been waiting for them to be moved off-farm so they aren't chewing through my reserves for my other sheep that I wanted to keep for the year."
Mr Fuchsbichler said damage to the shearing shed had hampered things slightly, as he was planning to shear the older ewes before they were sent off-farm.
"They have a decent amount of wool on them," he said.
"It is better to get that wool off before fattening them up, otherwise they'll put energy into fattening up before they start growing wool again.
"I might be able to borrow a neighbour's shed to get them shorn, but it has been costing us to hold them onfarm."
