THE Christmas holiday plans of an Orange couple look to have been dashed thanks to an afternoon storm that ripped through the city on Wednesday.
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As the late afternoon storm tore through Orange it dumped 16mm of rain in the CBD and 24mm in north Orange.
Bureau of Meteorology readings for Orange Airport recorded wind gusts of up to 57km/h around 4pm on Wednesday.
Park Lane couple Terry and Robyn Thomas had planned to take their beloved boat out for a trip on the ocean this Christmas, however a huge liquid amber tree that quashed those dreams.
Luckily the couple were not home when the storm ripped a huge limb from the tree and threw it atop the boat in their driveway.
“It was a shock to come home to,” Mr Thomas said.
“All the aluminium frame is twisted.”
Mr Thomas said the boat’s windscreen, canopy, radio equipment and electronics have all been damaged.
Still in hope their Christmas holiday may be salvaged, Mr Thomas has already booked the boat in for a repair assessment on Tuesday.
“You can only say it could have been worse.”
The Park Lane couple were one of many to have been affected by Wednesday’s wild storm.
Visitors to the Orange Regional Conservatorium (CON) were temporarily trapped when both entrances were blocked by large fallen branches.
Orange City SES controller Kim Stevens said a crane was brought in to remove the branches, one weighed four tonne, the other a massive 6.5 tonne.
“It was a fairly wild sort of storm in that these were quite large trees,” he said.
No damage has been reported at the CON by staff.
The roof of the accountancy firm Pigot Miller Wilson sustained minor damage and a leak.
Mr Stevens said these were among 38 calls received due to damage sustained by the storm.
Three Orange crews attended the call outs with another from Molong and Canowindra asked to assist.
As of late yesterday afternoon Orange crews were completing the last few jobs around Orange.
nadine.morton@fairfaxmedia.com.au