Buckland chases storm

Tyalgum storm chaser Clayton Buckland is in his element.

AMATEUR storm-chaser Clayton Buckland had the time of his life at the weekend.

The 17-year-old witnessed the Tweed’s first big storm of 2010 after Saturday’s saturation left many villages cut off by flood waters.

But his adventure documenting the flood waters almost did not get under way as his local bridge narrowly avoided going under.

“We thought we would have been flooded in ourselves,” the Tyalgum resident said.

“We’ve had rain on and off all week, but Saturday night was some of the heaviest rainfall I’ve seen in a long time.

“It was torrential out at Tyalgum. We had a 40mm rain gauge at home and it overflowed so many times.”

The year 12 student took to the roads on Sunday to scope out any damage done.

He snapped shots of Tyalgum, Eungella and Murwillumbah.

“Chillingham was one of the worst hit; one farmer in the area told me he had 240mm of rain,” he said.

“I came across so many roads which were shut off by flood water.

“So many underlying areas went under, including Knox Park in Murwillumbah. The bridge in Chillingham was so close to going under as well.”

Clayton said Saturday’s rain was the worst he had seen since Christmas.

“We’re so lucky it stopped when it did because the damage could have been a lot worse if it went on any longer.”