By MATT NICHOLLS
WILD weather battered the Northern Tablelands on Saturday as a tornado destroyed a home in Tenterden near Guyra.
Storm chasers Jason Paterson and Michael Bath captured an image of the tornado from Glencoe as it hovered over a mountain near Ben Lomond.
Elderly resident Fay Mayled held a pillow over her head and braced in her lounge room while the wind blew the roof off her home.
Neighbour Alex Martin, said he had never seen anything like it.
“It went past the front of our house … and our neighbour was totally wiped out, her house was wrecked – all her sheds and everything are gone,” he said.
The storm front produced more much-needed rain in the region.
Armidale copped around 30 millimetres, while 74mm fell in Guyra. In the north, 36mm was recorded at Glen Innes, while Inverell received 54mm.
About 35mm fell in the Uralla area, farmer Cameron Gall said.
Mr Gall and his father Tony run Wilson’s Creek, a property about 8km west of Uralla.
“The rain came at a perfect time because he had just put in a crop last week,” he said.
“Even after that rain earlier this month things were starting to dry out.”
The Gall family run fine wool sheep, as well as cattle at Wilson’s Creek and said they would continue to feed cattle over the next couple of weeks.
“Until there’s some growth we’ll still feed them, but the sheep should be OK,” Mr Gall said.
Importantly, the dams have been filled.
“Before the rain came we were pulling stock out of the dams because they were so low,” Mr Gall said.
“Now they are almost full, which is good.”
