Huge storm over Robertson this afternoon

Robertson had a very violent thunderstorm this afternoon, and we go about 35 mm of rain (word of mouth report).
Anyway, as it was an afternoon storm, it was not as scary, or as spectacular as the storm which hit Canberra.

Zoe tells me that my old stomping grounds of "Inner North" Canberra - Reid, Braddon, Campbell and the ANU have been largely closed down today as recovery and clean-up continue. Apparently the main problem is Canberra's penchant for shallowly sloped roof-lines. Those roofs drain rain reasonably well. But hail does not "flow" - so it builds up in gutters (on roofs, and in streets). Some roofs on commercial buildings simply collapsed under the weight of the built-up ice. Road gutters blocked, and caused flooding.

The photo (above) is borrowed from the Sydney Morning Herald. The shot was taken in Yass, by Guy Bennett. It was published in the SMH of 28 February 2007.

This huge storm cell is apparently the same one which moved over Canberra, and produced such chaos and damage to my old stomping grounds in Reid, Campbell, Civic Centre and the ANU - all in the "inner north" of Canberra.

Second image from the ABC Canberra website.
Photo by Miss Seifert - "Lightshow over Canberra".

Gutters were blocked with ice, formed by build-ups of hail stones. The flat rooves of some commercial buildings collapsed under the unexpected weight of hail which simply does not flow across nearly flat rooves, the way that rain is supposed to.

I am glad that my roof (in Robertson) has a 22 percent slope (or something quite steep like that - it is a while since I have had to do those calculations). I know it is far too steep for me to walk on, and I had to climb around the roof line, with ropes as grip-lines for support. Anyway, it is pretty unlikely that I would ever get too much of a build up of ice on my roof - maybe some in the guttering, but that's about all (I hope).