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Burnley Firemen working near Palace House just before the main deluge. They didn't know what was in store for them.
The Burnley Express dedicated three full pages to this story of the unusual event.
The staggering total of £5m is one expert estimate of the damage caused in the greater Burnley area by the 15-minute flash flood on Saturday 18th July at about 11am which wrote the 1964 Burnley Fair into the history books. For Burnley and Padiham alone, damage is put at around £3m and industrial and domestic havoc in Nelson and Colne accounts for much of the remainder.
The record-breaking storm of nearly an inch of rain and big hailstones in 15 minutes added to an already heavy downpour which was accompanied by thunder and lightning and left a trail of havoc. Into rivers swollen by nearly half an inch of rain the previous day, the complicated drainage system of NE Lancashire took a further 1.88 inches of rain - an impossible load for any drainage system. Many businesses were affected and workers were told not to turn up for work on the following Monday.
The report details many incidents in Burnley, Padiham and the surrounding districts and in all carried 17 photographs, seven of which have been scanned. A follow up report on Saturday the 25th July details some of the clean-up operations.