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SEVERE STORM STRIKES STANTHORPE - OCTOBER 23, 1999

Scattered showers and storms developed in northern NSW and southern QLD, and during the afternoon a particulary intense storm developed just south of the QLD border in northern NSW. This storm moved through Texas dropping golf ball sized hail which caused considerable damage to windows and cars in the town. It then moved ENE, maintaining intensity, reaching Stanthorpe early evening where it caused over $30 million in damages to crops. Narelle Bowmaker was in Stanthorpe at the time and her first hand account of the storm is below.


The storm was evident to the SW of Stanthorpe, as early as 6pm, from the window of our room over the Hotel on Main Street.

The lightning that preceded was amazing, forking upon multiple fork - vivid blue and white, sometimes a lemon yellow, and constantly spidered across the underside of the anvil as the storm approached.  It was a transfixing sight as it continued to crawl across the rooftops.

The clouds looked like inky velvet against the sky.  The mammatus long and ovulated and appeared to glow from the force of energy within.

But yes, once venturing outside, the pickup in surface winds was evident as your face was whipped by your hair;  though no structural damage was evident anywhere, either prior to or after the event at all.

Admittedly I incorrectly concluded this storm would pass to the better south of town, and my girlfriend and I popped across the back of the Hotel to the Civic Center, for the evenings festivities.

The hail struck at 7:20pm - JUST, wouldn't you know it, as First Tastings was being called!

- the onslaught began as abruptly as it ceased.  It fell in four waves, averaging nearly 2mins each, easing off to just about nothing (at which point my heart would start to beat again and I'd begin to breathe easy), then suddenly the crescendo would build again, with a noticeable increase in stone size and quantity. The Hail lay a good 6inches deep by the time it had finished dumping it's load  - some trees were stripped bare of their foliage.  There was relatively little rain mixed, although torrential downpours followed later.  Each CG was kept close company by deafening thunderclaps.

After the Wine Festival wound up at 11:00, I along with several others, (our courage steeled by hours of inbibement of many quality elixirs, I ought to add) tippy-toed across torrents of rain rimming each side of the streets, over into the carpark, to inspect the damage - which under the glare of street light reflected in raindrops, didn't appear 'quite' so bad through a blurred glance.  But everywhere the roads were amply strewn with leaves; some guttering was clogged and overflowed.

The township of Stanthorpe then actually blacked out at 12:10am, and was without power till 1:15am - much to the chagrin of the high spirited Commercial Hotel patrons.  So the beer got a little warmer, but hey, it was business as usual!! The party continued by candlelight and the strum of a band member's acoustic guitar, accentuated by the odd rolls of thunder and steady beats of the downpour;  until power plunged it back into full swing.  (unfortunately for those patrons who had since retired and gone to bed, to find theirs was neatly located directly over the bar.)

But it just wouldn't be Australian to let a severe storm get in the way of a good time!!..  that's how it goes out here.

In the glare of the morning sun however,  it was painfully obvious my car, my beautiful, sporty and sleek liddle car, (and dozens of others), was in a very bad way indeed.

Indentations by the score, spotted every panel - they vary in size and depth, and the odd few belie stones of a larger means than golf ball size got up close and personal wif my baby!  Even the plastic window strips look like giant ants have gone along chomping off bites in neat lines, along their lengths.  At least the windows were all intact and I could drive back to Brisbane easily enough.

It's kinda cool driving around in a car that now matches my 'rep' as a storm chaser, but you hafta feel for those that have lost life endeavors, or will abandon them, in the wake of this brutal storm.

It was a real doozy!!


Local police reported hail drifts up to 10cm deep after the storm! Stanthorpe officially recorded 40mm of rain, although totals of up to 60mm were reported from farmers around the district.



Report by Ben Quinn