Things got rather interesting this afternoon.

Minutes after the rain shower hit me, out of nowhere, I was hit by torrential rain and 25 kts over deck. No time to put in a reef, but the boat coped very well.
This lasted for all of 10 minutes.
As sudden as its arrival was its departure.
No more rain and a sedate 10 kts of wind.
Nothing broke and no-one died.

I've had worse days at sea.