TUESDAY afternoon’s storm stalked Inverell threateningly for about an hour and a half from the south west before it broke and dumped 85mm of rain, brought wind gusts of 98 kilometres per hour and had about 40 members of the local SES scrambling to attend to 31 call outs.
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The rain began with a heavy downpour about 6pm, accompanied by lightning and some high wind gusts. It lasted for about three quarters of an hour before the front seemed to pass through and things seemed to settle into a constant fall that lasted well into the night.
SES North West Region controller Rick Sloman said there had been no more calls this morning and crews worked well into the night and described it as a great multi-agency co-operation.
“We had the council, fire brigade helping us and the Salvation Army came out to put on a meal,” Mr Sloman said.
“So I think it was a good community response.
“People need to remember the storm season is here, so they need to pay attention to the forecasts and keep an eye on the weather warnings.”
Mr Sloman said he thought there would be some farmers pleased about the latest falls, although the rain had been patchy in parts.
NSW Fire and Rescue station commander Mark Savage said the brigade had been called out five times.
“We had calls to flooding houses and helped unblock a few drains in the main street and helped with some sand bagging,” Commander Savage said.
“We backed up the SES, who don’t get called out very often because we don’t get flooded very often.”
Around the district Tingha recorded 65mm of rain, Bundarra copped 83mm, Delungra 43mm, Warialda 31mm, Elsmore recorded 53mm, Middle Creek at Stannifer 71mm while Danthonia had the highest reading in the district with 90mm.