Three people were injured when a tornado swept through central west NSW on Thursday afternoon, damaging property and leaving a 30 km trail of destruction.
Important points:
- Authorities say the tornado hit around 2:00 p.m.
- One woman whose home was in the path of the tornado said it “destroyed everything”
- The BoM said tornadoes are a “localized phenomenon” in Australia
David Hagey’s home in Clear Creek, near Bathurst, was damaged when the tornado hit around 2:00 p.m.
He estimates that 300 trees were pulled from the ground around his property.
“It all just went gray and there were limbs flying in the air and it basically hit us … it was so quick,” he said.
“There were branches, pewter, iron, things were flying everywhere.”
Trees landed on Mr. Hagey’s house and wrecked two cars.
He and his family watched the tornado from their home.
“If that was a giant, it was like he’d just grabbed the trees, bolted them, and threw them on the ground,” he said.
“We stood there in amazement and waited for it to stop. The good thing is that we’re fine. “
Lead climatologist Agata Imielska from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) confirmed that homes and power lines were damaged northeast of Bathurst.
“We have a damage line of around 25 to 30 kilometers,” she said.
Ms. Imielska said the tornado was part of a broader weather system that the BOM had been warning about for several days.
The system moves across Australia’s east coast and severe weather warnings are in place for large parts of NSW, including Sydney.
Harmful winds, heavy hail and heavy rains, which can lead to flash floods, can be expected on the east coast.
Further inland, in northeast New South Wales and South Queensland, the risks are potentially destructive winds, hailstones and heavy rains that lead to flash floods.
Paramedics were called to two demolished homes – one in Meadow Flat and one in Clear Creek.
In Clear Creek, a man suffered facial injuries and a woman was taken to Bathurst Hospital with back and neck injuries.
In Meadow Flat, a man in his forties with an arm injury was taken to Orange Hospital.
Inspector Meah Ferguson said the patients were fortunate enough to escape with relatively minor injuries, considering the damage the tornado caused.
“It’s not every day that you are called to a tornado, and it has quite an impact,” she said.
Local Rural Fire Service (RFS) Patrick Sinclair, who was cleaning up the Meadow Flat home, said the family’s pet was sucked up in the tornado.
“I was told the dog was picked up and lifted about 300 meters and survived, so that’s good,” he said.
“The SES are doing their job trying to put a cover over the top (of the house) and just trying to protect everyone,” Sinclair said.
He said the owner’s existence is now in jeopardy as his logging equipment has been ruined.
Peel resident Kathy Jones said she came home to see her house “spinning around”.
“It cost the house, the roof, it took everything,” she said.
“Everything just spun around, there isn’t much left of the house, we have a big mess to clean up.”
She said she could see a “big black cloud” in the sky and that with her house destroyed, she had nowhere to go.
“There are broken windows, you always think you can hide under a bed, but there is glass all over the house, even … the chimney is torn out so there is smoke all over the house.
“There are trees right by the fence, the greyhound yard is blown over, there are greyhounds everywhere.”
Ms. Jones said her neighbors helped her clean up and offered her a place to stay.
Electricity company Essential Energy said roof irons were blown into Clear Creek’s power grid, disrupting power lines.
Approximately 164 customers in the Limekilns, Clear Creek, Peel and surrounding areas are without power after being automatically turned off during the storm as a protective measure.
BoM forecaster Gabrielle Woodhouse said tornadoes are “fairly rare” but “not entirely ruled out.”
“Tornadoes are really quite … very localized phenomena, so it’s pretty difficult to predict them in advance,” she said.
Ms. Woodhouse said the storm season “really started” and urged residents to check the BOM website for the latest weather warnings.
