What the SES is saying about this season
The NSW SES opened the season by pointing to El Niño, which it says can raise the risk of dangerous storms, damaging winds, intense rainfall, large hail and flash flooding when conditions align. Its own figures from last season show where the work went:
The SES's own count for last storm season. Trees and roofs are where the work went.
- All incidents, last storm season: more than 23,000
- Storm-related emergencies: 18,905
- Fallen trees: about 7,000
- Leaking and damaged roofs: more than 6,500
Most of the work was roofs and trees. Windows aren't on that list, and that's a fair guide to where a shutter fits.
It happens here too
This isn't only a coastal problem. In the storms that swept across NSW in mid-January 2025, the roof was ripped off the multipurpose hall at Cessnock High School.
What a plantation shutter is, and isn't, in a storm
A plantation shutter is a frame of louvres hinged inside your window reveal. It shades, it gives privacy, and it lets you tune the light. It does not stop hail, wind or water. That's the job of the glass, the frame and the roof. If you want something that closes over the outside of the window, that is a different product for a different purpose.
What a closed shutter can do is make a wild night calmer inside. Close the panels and turn the blades flat, and the lightning flicker and the thrashing trees outside drop back a long way.
Shutters are for living with the weather, not holding it out.
Before a storm
- Shut the window, then the shutter. The window is what keeps the weather out. Close the sash first, then the panels.
- Close the blades against the flash. Flat and shut makes the room darkest and quietest.
- Watch the sills you already know about. If a window lets water in during heavy rain, leave that shutter's panels a little open so you can see the sill and get a towel to it.
After a storm
- Painted timber: if water has come in around a window, open the panels, wipe the frames and bottom rail dry, and let the air get to them. Timber that dries promptly is fine. Timber that sits wet at the bottom rail for days is where trouble starts.
- PVC: wipe it down and carry on. That's what it's made for, and it's why we fit it in bathrooms and laundries. See wet-area shutters, honestly told.
- If a window has broken, the shutter isn't the job that night. Call the NSW SES on 132 500 for storm help, and deal with the panel once the glass is fixed.
The honest limit
If you want to keep a storm out, a plantation shutter is the wrong tool, and we'll say so at the measure. If your problem is a west room that cooks all summer and rattles when the afternoon storms come through, that's where shutters earn their place. The west-facing room guide covers the heat. Book a free measure and we'll talk through the rest at the window.