Destructive Tatura storm causes store to stay open overnight

By Caitlyn Grant

Dec 26, 2022

Storm: Owner of Tatura Family Butchers Brady Bourke with the generator that helped save the day. Photo by Taylah Baker

While Tatura Family Butchers were expecting a big week in the lead-up to Christmas, an overnight stint of the store staying manned wasn’t on the cards.

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As a severe thunderstorm took over Tatura on Thursday, December 22 at about 6pm, heavy winds, rain and hail pummelled the town, causing a power outage to last more than 14 hours.

“I’d never seen anything like it, the hail was tremendous,” Tatura Family Butchers owner Brady Bourke said.

Destruction had ensued and debris littered streets, the clean up was marked by the sound of whirring wood chippers and humming generators across the main street.

One of which may have saved many Christmas dinners.

Mr Bourke could have been one of the first in line to hire a generator and though it worked miracles, the machinery could only be powered by cords leading through the front door.

And so, Mr Bourke and his staff took shifts to keep the shop open overnight.

“Luckily Christmas meant we had more than enough to keep busy,” he said.

The store received no damage from the storm.