Narrikup deluge sets record

Narrikup residents barely had time to react when 74mm of rainfall came down in one day last week, flooding paddocks and roads across the region.

That rain, recorded on March 20, set a new single-day record for the Bureau of Meteorology’s Narrikup West observatory, with nearly twice the March average coming down in mere hours.

Home to about 500 people, Narrikup was the wettest place in the Great Southern from March 18-25, officially recording 82mm of rain over two days.

In that same period, Albany Airport recorded 24.4mm, Mt Barker had about 30mm and Katanning picked up 17mm.

Roads around Narrikup farmer Casey Morris’ property were flooded after the downpour.

The farm was feeding livestock when the rain started to fall, resulting in a dash to recover machinery before it was too late.

“It was pretty crazy, it all came down so fast — I hadn’t seen a thunderstorm like that in years,” she said.

“We had about 20mm at the start of March, (and) the rain we had the other day was an awesome follow-up.”

Online, Albany Advertiser readers described the deluges as “massive” and “crazy”.

“46mm in an hour and still falling,” Julie Friend said.

“Happy farmers right here... hopefully it doesn’t cause any damage for anyone.”

This week’s weather is set to be more predictable, with the Bureau of Meteorology expecting Albany’s daytime temperature to hover between 19C and 23C until Sunday, with only a slight chance of showers.