Remember when: a month's worth of rain fell on Newbury 5 years ago today in 2016
Exactly five years ago today, September 15 2016, Newbury witnessed a dramatic thunderstorm that flooded the streets and town's railway station.
The sudden deluge resulted in a month’s worth of rain falling in three hours.
Properties at the Bartholomew Street and Pound Street junction were left several feet under water at the height of the storm on the Thursday evening. Roads and railways were also affected with many routes in West Berkshire temporarily closed, while thousands of homes lost power.
Such was the severity and proximity of the electrical storm that the road in Gaywood Dive, Turnpike was lifted after a direct lightning strike on a manhole cover and the top of the BT tower was also seen smoking after another strike.
Talking to the Newbury Weekly News at the time owner of The Hair Off the Dog groomers in Bartholomew Street, Jacqui Copas, described the scene as "like the shop was sitting on a canal and not the road”.
A Met Office and Environment Agency rain gauge at Chieveley recorded 21.1mm of rain between 2am and 3am and 22.4mm from 3am until 4am, representing a two-hour total of 43.5mm. The 1981-2010 September average at Chieveley is 54.2mm – so nearly the full monthly average fell in just two hours.
Do you remember the storm? Were you caught in the rain. Here are some of the pictures from the night and the ones you sent in.
