{"id":565381,"date":"2026-03-26T10:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T10:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/565381\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T10:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T10:12:11","slug":"evacuations-in-dubbos-cbd-after-crane-collapses-in-powerful-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/565381\/","title":{"rendered":"Evacuations in Dubbo’s CBD after crane collapses in powerful storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emergency evacuations are underway in the western New South Wales town of Dubbo after a crane collapsed during a powerful storm.<\/p>\n

The crane on Blight Street in Dubbo’s CBD was buffeted by 115 kilometre an hour winds just before 4pm.<\/p>\n

A video recorded from the window of a nearby building shows the crane rocking in the wind.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

The boom then comes loose and collapses into a nearby apartment building on Church Street.<\/p>\n

Dubbo resident Neica Stein had just finished work and was on her way to the pharmacy when the crane started to fall.<\/p>\n

“It sounded like intense screeching and scraping,” she said.<\/p>\n

“For a minute, we all thought the crane was going to fall on the Best&Less in front of it, but it yanked back and fell sideways.”Loading…<\/p>\n

Fire and Rescue acting superintendent John Moore said the crane operator self-evacuated from the cabin prior to the second collapse of the crane and was able to bring herself to safety on a nearby roof.<\/p>\n

The woman escaped with minor injuries.<\/p>\n

NSW Police has set up a 150-metre exclusion zone around the crane.<\/p>\n

Mr Moore said firefighters were using a drone to get into the exclusion zone and check for anyone who might still be trapped.<\/p>\n

The weights of the crane fell onto the building’s electrical substation, but Mr Moore said there were no related ongoing risks.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The crane operator is seen exiting the cabin in windy weather. (Supplied: Rheyce Spears)<\/p>\n

Fire and Rescue is working with the Essential Energy to ensure power is isolated.<\/p>\n

Fourteen firefighters are still at the scene, including two units from Dubbo and one from Gilgandra.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A crane has collapsed in the Dubbo’s CBD after it was buffeted by strong winds. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Surrounding buildings on Bligh, Wingewarra, Church, Macquarie and Talbragar streets have been evacuated as a precaution.<\/p>\n

There have been no reports of injuries at this stage.<\/p>\n

Four ambulances remain on site.<\/p>\n

Dust storm hits\"Tractor<\/p>\n

A dust storm approaches a farm in Gilgandra, western NSW. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

It comes as a wild dust storm swept across western NSW, causing significant damage to electricity infrastructure.<\/p>\n

More than 15,000 addresses are without power, including 1,900 premises around Dubbo.<\/p>\n

Traffic lights in the city’s CBD have also lost power.<\/p>\n

\"Dust<\/p>\n

A powerful dust storm approaches Brewarrina. (Supplied: Shae Ferguson)<\/p>\n

Wind gusts of above 90km\/h were recorded in Coonamble, Cobar and Mudgee.<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Coonabarabran, Merriwa, Kandos, Mullaley, Boggabri and Tambar Springs.<\/p>\n

Residents are advised to stay indoors and avoid fallen powerlines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emergency evacuations are underway in the western New South Wales town of Dubbo after a crane collapsed during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,278328,278329,44,278330],"class_list":{"0":"post-565381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-crane-collapses-in-dubbo","11":"tag-dubbo-cbd-evacuated","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-storm-in-western-nsw"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}