A NSW contingent of SES volunteers has recently returned home after spending 12 days dealing with 2000 incidents in storm ravaged Queensland, due to unseasonable weather over the Christmas and New Year period.

Adam Smithers from the Gilgandra SES Unit was one of the 120 volunteers from across NSW. He joined a contingent from Dubbo, Orange and Bathurst, making up a western zone team.

 "We were on a 1,3,1 deployment," Mr Smithers said.

"One day to travel up, three days on the ground and one day to travel back.

"We were based at the Tambourine Mountains. It's probably the worst of the storm area and there was extensive damage with very large trees down everywhere. I think it ripped out half the power grid up there."

The majority of roads had been cleared by the time his group arrived, with much of their work involving clearing trees from properties and attending to damaged rooftops.

NSW SES Acting Commissioner Deb Platz said the severe weather event left a trail of destruction, with numerous trees down and properties damaged across South East Queensland.

"NSW SES and RFS members from all over the state deployed to the affected areas to provide crucial support and aid in the clean-up efforts," Acting Commissioner Platz said.

"Our dedicated members worked tirelessly alongside Queensland emergency services and residents to clear debris, remove fallen trees, tarp rooftops, and door knock to provide essential support to affected individuals and families."

Mr Smithers said the damage had been sizeable.

"I think it's probably cleaned up from an SES standpoint, but it'll probably take a couple of months to get the community back to where it was. It is a very hilly and heavily treed area. With 20 to 30 metre gum trees fallen down, there was quite extensive damage."

Storm damage was extensive over a wide area (photo: Adam Smithers)

Mr Smithers has been with the SES for 10 years, having originally joined the Hornsby unit. He is a Senior Group Officer with the Gilgandra SES, having moved there to teach at the local primary school three years ago.

"This is my first storm deployment - the deployments I did for the 2019/20 bushfires were a different kettle of fish altogether," he said.

The only member of the Gilgandra SES to go on this deployment, Mr Smithers said it was good timing for him, due to school holidays.

"We have a pretty active SES group at Gil," he said.

"We train regularly and it’s a resilient community out here. I was just fortunate that the timing to deploy for the Queensland storms worked out for me."

Mr Smithers said he would do the same thing again, a sentiment praised by Ms Platz who said the response from NSW volunteers to the emergency had been fantastic.

"I thank and commend all our volunteers for their work both at home and on deployment. This underscores the importance of interagency cooperation in times of need," she said.