Parkes’ night sky put on quite the show for residents on Thursday prior to and during a thunderstorm hitting the region.
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The massive 55-120mm downpour that followed also left a lasting impression, with flash floods occurring in a number of streets across town.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) issued a severe thunderstorm warning for damaging winds, hailstones and heavy rainfall that afternoon at 2.30pm, which covered areas right down the centre of NSW, including Parkes.
By sunset, storm clouds were brewing in the glowing orange and pink sky.
According to the BOM, the heavy rain didn’t reach Parkes until 11.02pm, with 10mm falling in just seven minutes.
By midnight the BOM recorded 43.6mm of rain, with the gauge peaking at 55.6mm when it stopped about 2.30am Friday.
But according to a number of Parkes residents, Parkes had a much bigger downpour.
Some reported 80mm fell in Kelly Road, 90.4mm in Evans Parade and 90mm Lynch Street, while 104mm was measured in Medlyn Street and 107mm in the centre of town, and 120mm at Welcome.
The Newell Highway at Hartigan Avenue was flooded where police were forced to close the road for almost an hour, so too did a number of residential garages flood and the water washed many a gravel and dirt driveway away.
The Parkes Library in Bogan Street also flooded, where limited services were available at the facility on Friday.
Comparing the BOM’s figure – it’s the highest rainfall Parkes has experienced in one day since June 1, 2014 when the BOM recorded 55.8mm over 24 hours.
Besides the 2.2mm of rain a day earlier, Parkes had recorded zero rain all month.
Parkes also encountered more rain in those three and a half hours than it had for every month’s total since March, when the shire was struck with heavy falls and flash flooding over four days.
According to the BOM, October’s total rainfall for the month was 52.2mm, September was 10mm, August 25.6mm, July 8.2mm, June 0.4mm, May 33.6mm and April was 22.6mm.
March’s monthly total was 195.4mm, with the majority of that (127.4mm) falling between March 21 and March 25.
The storm progressively passed through Orange, Bathurst and Lithgow by Friday afternoon.
There were a number of road closures in Lithgow due to hail downpours.
3.8mm had fallen in Parkes on Saturday.
More rain isn’t expected in the shire until Friday, with a 70 per cent chance of 1-5mm.
