hail a foot deep still there after 12 hrs. - a hail of a storm

[ensho]

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index.php?smp=&lang=eng


Hail a foot deep was still lying in some Diamond Beach yards at daylight yesterday – 12 hours after a huge hail storm wreaked havoc across an area from Coolongolook to Hallidays Point. The storm caught most people unawares, hitting without warning just after sunset, following a perfect Indian summer day with cloudless skies. However Nabiac’s SES volunteers were in the know, their pagers having gone off several hours before, warning of the possibility of a destructive storm. Though on standby, the savage nature of the storm still came as a surprise to the volunteers, prompting six hours of hard work answering 14 distress calls from residents. All involved house gutters which became blocked with hail, causing the gutters to overflow and water to cascade into the interiors. The worst hit, according to Nabiac SES deputy controller Sandra Birchall, was the Terracotta Teahouse on Failford Road, where a ceiling light caved in under the weight of water. Police had to close Failford Road – the main link between the Pacific Highway and Forster-Tuncurry – where hail two to three inches deep made traffic conditions dangerous. Trees alongside the road were uprooted and tackled by more SES workers with chainsaws. The storm lasted for about half an hour, striking Coolongolook about 6pm, then moving northwards across the nearby Nabiac-Failford area and on to the Hallidays Point area about 6.30.

Black Head and Redhead escaped much of its ferocity, but Diamond Beach to the north copped a ‘dumping’ according to local resident Peter Mannow. In most cases the hail was between pea and marble size, although SES deputy controller Birchall said some at Coolongolook was more like “the ice cubes you get out of your freezer”. "I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Ms Birchall said. “It looked for all the world like it had been snowing. Even four and five hours afterwards, properties we visited were still white.” Ten members of her unit moved from property to property, answering the 14 calls for aid. The last team returned to base at midnight. No tarping of roofs was needed – in most cases after the SES volunteers cleared the hail from house gutters, the build-up of water was able to drain away. Diamond Beach resident Mr Mannow said his family was planning to end the perfect autumn Sunday by dining outdoors.)
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