Compared to the intense and ominous scene it painted as it rolled in, the outcome of the storm that hit the Manning-Great Lakes on Friday was fairly mild.
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Forster Pacific Palms SES unit commander Greg Dodd said the unit received no call-outs despite being on high alert.
Mr Dodd himself was on the Central Coast but was in regular communication with the unit, and he believed they were in for a busy evening.
"I thought they were going to get absolutely smashed," he said.
Mr Dodd said the majority of unit members reported they hadn't seen a storm front roll in so quickly or threateningly before, and there were concerns that the area was in for a repeat of the destructive storm that hit in December 2018, causing widespread damage and power loss.
"This one came in similar," Mr Dodd said.
"This was one was even darker than in 2018."
Ultimately the apocalyptic-looking front didn't deliver anything out of the ordinary, with small hailstones falling on parts of the coast for a short period, along with thunder and lightning.
The system did bring some decent rainfall to the region, with Tuncurry recording 24mm in the 24 hours between 9am Friday and 9am Saturday, while Pacific Palms and Taree recorded 16mm and Forster recorded 14mm.
"It was a very good outcome," Mr Dodd admitted.
Other parts of NSW weren't so lucky, however, with Dubbo battered by hail and damage to property being reported in Sydney.
Nine News also reported that Sydney recorded 3000 lightning strikes through the course of the afternoon.
Originating in the State's central west, the storm moved quickly towards the coast, causing dust storms and other isolated damage along the way.
Here on the Mid Coast, however, the most dramatic outcome of the event was the striking images it gave rise to, with social media flooded with photos of the impressive storm front rolling in.
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