Warren Bailey “Magunyah”, on Rosehill Road, was left with no choice but to watch on as the rapidly rising Cullinga Creek claimed one mob of sheep and part of a second mob. 

He has yet to count exact losses but estimates it in the hundreds. 

The flash flooding following the storm has rendered 23 of his 38 paddocks unusable due to fence repairs being required. 

“It (the damage to fences) is up to 300 metres wide in some places,” Mr Bailey said. 

His immediate focus since the deluge has been ensuring water troughs damaged in the storm are working. 

The storm was extremely variable across the district and even across properties. 

While Magunyah had 100mm at one end, there was only 45mm in the rain gauge at Mr Bailey’s house on the property. 

Other properties nearby received just a few mm of rain. 

“I have never seen anything like the water coming down; the amount that fell in the short time made me quickly realise we had a problem,” Mr Bailey said. 

While he had just stopped hand feeding stock for the moment, the damage to fences on the lucerne paddocks on the creek flats has rendered these areas unable to be used for stock. 

He will now have to start up a feeding regime again until these paddocks become accessible. 

Charlie Bragg “Landgrove”, just 12km out of Cootamundra between Cullinga Road and Jugiong Road, estimates 150-200mm fell in his worst-affected areas. 

More than the rain however, the property experienced hail and huge winds. 

Mr Bragg likened the storm event to a “tornado”. 

Twenty metre high trees broke off at the base with branches strewn 150m away. 

“We lost stock, we lost fences, we lost trees,” Mr Bragg said. 

Such was the force of the storm bark was stripped from trees left standing. 

Hail and sheets of rain affected groundcover, a cost the property will have to bear until grass grows again. 

At Landgrove, stock losses are set to reach into the hundreds with many injured by the hail and falling tree limbs as well as some washed down the Cullinga Creek. 

Injured stock have had to be euthanised as a matter of priority before attention turned to feeding remaining stock and securing boundary fences. 

“We have had storms through here before but I have never seen the devastation through to the trees like this one,” Mr Bragg said.

“The wind was scary,” he added. 

Despite the rainfall in that one hour being almost half of last year’s total rain on his family property, Mr Bragg is remaining positive. 

“It has put moisture in the soil and everything will green up; the country will recover,” he said. 

For those who missed out on Tuesday’s rain, a chance of 10-20mm is forecast for Cootamundra by the Bureau of Meteorology on Friday.