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 A trough
lying from the heat low over northern WA through southern NT, SW QLD and
central NSW moved only very slowly NE today, bringing widespread thunderstorms
and rain areas.
Heavy showers heralded the day in SE QLD, with many parts of Brisbane and
the Gold and Sunshine Coasts recording between 40 and 75mm to 9am. Brisbane
Airport recorded 15.2mm in half an hour to 9am. Overnight and early morning
thunderstorms were active across the NT Top End, giving Kidman Springs 74.0mm
and Darwin Profiler 55.4 for the 24 hours to 9am.
During the afternoon, storms developed across northern and eastern VIC
and much of NSW and QLD. At Mildura VIC, a storm dumped 43.4mm in 22 minutes
to
2.14pm with winds gusting to 111km/h. The wind partially unroofed four
houses, damaged a school and brought down trees on two houses at Merbein
South, 12km west of the city.
In East Gippsland, Mt Nowa Nowa, 20km NNE of Lakes Entrance, recorded
17.2mm in 12 minutes around 2.30pm. Orbost recorded 15mm of rain in 15
minutes with hail to 2cm diameter, while Seaton, 40km NW of Sale, reported
golfball sized hail and Jamieson 3cm hail. 70mm falling in 2 hours at
Wulgulmerang, 70km NNW of Orbost, caused flooding which damaged kilometres
of farm fencing.
In NSW, heavy rain, hail and strong winds accompanied
severe storms in Sydney and on the Central Coast. The SES reported 130
callouts, with 80 coming from
Killara, Lane Cove and Willoughby in Sydney's north. 20mm fell in 10
minutes at Pymble causing local flooding. 20 homes in Penrith and the
Liverpool Council building were flooded when gutters
were
blocked,
possibly
by hail.
Blacked-out
traffic
lights and downed trees created severe traffic congestion during the
evening
peak,
especially
in northwestern
suburbs around Ryde. 13,000 homes were blacked out by the storms in Sydney,
10% still without power the next morning. Wind gusted to 102km/h at Badgery's
Creek just after 3pm.
On Lake Macquarie SW of
Newcastle,
20 homes
were damaged
at
Valentine,
four seriously with roofs partly or wholly removed, while a block of units
was unroofed at
Cardiff. Residents in Valentine described the winds as tornadic, with an
eye witness describing the roof of one home just going "straight up in the air".
Power was lost to 5,000 homes, with half still not restored by midnight. Rail
services
on
the
Central
Coast
were
disrupted.
The
top wind
gust
recorded
at Nobbys Signal Station in Newcastle was 117km/h just
before
4pm. 15 to 25mm were common totals for these storms, often falling in 10 to
15 minutes.
Elsewhere in the state there were scattered heavy totals. Tottenham, 120km
west of Dubbo, reported an isolated high fall of 74.6mm in the 24 hours to
9am while Narrabri, Gunnedah and Kempsey had heavy thunderstorm dumps during
the late afternoon or evening.
Late afternoon storms brought heavy rain across the NT Top End and
WA
Kimberley. Douglas River, 130km south of Darwin, recorded 68.8mm
in just over half an hour in a storm that brought a total of 114mm. Larrimah
recorded 77mm and in WA Wyndham Aero reported 45mm in 3 hours.
Full 24 hour and short duration rainfall details are below.
News sources: ABC, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age
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