Ted Cox found himself stuck in Dubbo during the storm without accommodation

During a trip he'd made hundreds of times before, Mr Cox wasn't prepared to end up in the heart of a wild storm, before having to walk an hour in the rain to the hospital.

On his return trip, his car wouldn't start and he found himself stranded in Dubbo, unable to find accommodation until after 9pm.

On Thursday, February 9, Mr Cox was travelling to Dubbo through Guerie when the very severe, multi-cell thunderstorm hit.

"I'd left Mudgee a couple of hours early because I knew there were roadworks going on and I ran into the biggest storm I'd ever seen," he said.

Pulling over when it became too dangerous to drive, Mr Cox was one of many in a similar situation. When he decided it was safe to drive again, Mr Cox didn't make it far before roads were closed due to flooding or debris.

"I almost got to the hospital and then the car conked out because it was all wet, so I got out and struggled through the rain," he said.

Making his way with just an umbrella, Mr Cox said the worst thing was walking through the water.

Just when he thought he was getting close to the hospital, there was a freight train blocking his path.

But Mr Cox is resourceful.

"The train was stopped and all the lights were red and the gates were closed so I walked all the way down to Macquarie Street where you can go up under the railway line," he said.

And that's exactly what he did.

"The train was in the way so I went between two cabins, I crawled through there hoping the train wouldn't start," he said.

"If I was in the movies the train would've started!"

After his adventure through the train, Mr Cox continued on his trek until he made it to the public hospital reception. The staff told him there was a boom gate that was normally closed that he could go through that would take him towards the private hospital.

"I was going to be on time initially, but the walk took me about an hour and a half. The hospital was calling me wondering where I was but I'd left my phone behind in my car," he said.

"So I eventually got there, late for my appointment, all wet and miserable, but it could have been a lot worse."

After Mr Cox's medical appointment, he made his way back to his car which still wouldn't start. His original plan had been to travel back to Mudgee but he suddenly found himself stranded in Dubbo, coming up close to 9pm.

Now that the storm had calmed, Mr Cox called a taxi that took him to Cobra Street, where a selection of hotels are located.

"I asked the taxi to drop me off at a place I had stayed before but because of the late hour, reception was closed and there were no after-hours phone numbers," he said.

He then went next door and there were no rooms left, but the receptionist suggested he go across the road to a hotel that had a 24-hour check-in machine.

"But that machine wouldn't work, so then I went back across the road to another hotel and after some delay the receptionist said there were no rooms available," he said.

Continuing his quest to find a place to stay, Mr Cox was having no luck.

At another hotel the reception was closed but they had an after-hours phone number, that once called, went straight to voicemail.

"That was of no use to me, so I went to another hotel, the sixth one by now, and this one had another touchscreen machine for self check-in, but it came up that there were no rooms available," he said.

In a last ditch effort, Mr Cox made his way to Fountain View Motel which had people in reception and more importantly, a vacancy.

"I was eventually saved," he said.

For a random Thursday night with no big events in town, Mr Cox was stumped as to why Dubbo was nearly booked out of accommodation.

"Dubbo must be very popular," he said.

Mr Cox, despite being happy to have a bed for the night, said he was happier to be able to have a shower and get warm after being soaked from the storm.