Homes left uninhabitable, thousands of dollars' damage in Albury and wider region after storm

The Albury SES unit was the busiest in the south of NSW, responding to 236 of 420 requests for assistance.

Widespread storm activity resulted in significant damage to a number of communities including Albury, Mulwala and Cootamundra.

A house in Mulwala was left uninhabitable after a tree fell on the property, Big W was evacuated and flash-flooding isolated campers at Leather Barell camping area on the Alpine Way.

Among many Albury businesses that sustained damage was Gasweld Tools in North Albury.

The rain was so heavy it caused metal sheets on the underside of the roof to fall in and nearly tore the gutter off the building.

Owner Brendan Keighran said he'd never experienced that level of damage from a storm before.

"It is an old building, but I think it was just the amount of water going through, and the box gutters don't help," he said.

"It's structurally OK, it was just the weight of the water that caused the metal to give way.

"The alarm went off, and then I had numerous calls from people in the community asking if I needed any help, which was great.

"It's hard enough with everything else going on with COVID and supply issues ... but it could have been worse."

Mr Keighran estimated the damage bill would be between $5000 and $10,000.

A similar amount will be incurred in damaged stock by Essential Ingredient, but owner Barry Young hoped it would be covered by insurance.

"We were just about to close and as I was walking customers out the door, it started belting down," he said.

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"It was like a waterfall coming from inside the roof and down the walls," he said.

"We were pushing the water out the door.

"We're now trying to sort out the stock."

A number of Dean Street and surrounding businesses had water at their doorstep and impact their stock.

South of the border, winds reached 100 km/h in Yarrawonga where 39 people requested help from Victoria's State Emergency Service.

VICSES North East Region duty officer Troy Milner said volunteers answered 204 requests for assistance (RFAs) across the North East Region.

"At Corryong, we received twenty RFAs, which included eleven calls relating to downed trees and six calls to buildings which suffered damaged," he said.

"The town of Walwa experienced an unusual microburst of weather, resulting in 12 RFAs for the community which included two homes with roofs removed by the wind, and one property with fifteen large trees down, blocking access to the residents."

Walwa resident Michael Cameron has a weather station at his property and it recorded 125km/h before cutting out.

"The wind came in four directions in a very short period of time; that's what led me to think it was a forming cell, tornado or not," he said.

"A 100-year-old gum tree was uprooted behind our place - its roots didn't fail, it was pulled out of the ground.

"It was very intense and not something I'd ever seen."

Mr Cameron said it was difficult for locals to be dealing with significant damage given the impact so Black Summer this time two years ago.

"We were very lucky not to have injuries," he said.

Mr Milner said the risk remained and encouraged North East residents to be vigilant.

"We would encourage the public to remember that every tree is now a hazardous tree," he said.

"We also expect to see further inclement weather in the North East Region over the summer.

"Now is the time to prepare."

Albury Wodonga Regional FoodShare is asking for donations after their Wigg Street store was flooded and Christmas hampers were damaged.

The store closed yesterday as clean-up was done.