A rare tornado hit Sydney yesterday with destructive winds above 200kph and cricket ball-sized hail, bringing down trees and power lines, sheering off roofs and walls and causing flash flooding in Australia’s largest city.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology issued the rare tornado warning around midday as the dangerous storm swept up the coast from Sydney’s south, forcing some international and domestic flights to be diverted to other cities.
The bureau said the winds recorded during the storm could have been the highest on record for New South Wales state.
Photo: Reuters
One eyewitness described widespread damage at an industrial park in the hard-hit Kurnell neighborhood near the southern beachside suburb of Cronulla.
“We really had no warning. The sky just went really black and we had this massive clap of thunder,” said Meredith Sullivan, a 48-year-old worker at the industrial park.
“Then the gusts of winds were just horrific, you could hear the roof starting to lift and debris was starting to fly around. All the cars were pretty much destroyed,” she said.
Kurnell, which is close to Sydney’s airport, was closed to all but emergency services, which were assessing the damage. Wind gusts as high as 213kmh were recorded there.
“There is obvious evidence that we have had a tornado go through Cronulla today,” bureau meteorologist Alan Sharp told Sydney media.
Social media was swamped by pictures of the huge, dark storm as it engulfed the harbor city, plunging a warm summer’s day into darkness.
One resident told Sky News the storm sounded “like a freight train going through.”
A shopping center in an eastern suburb was also evacuated after part of its roof collapsed in the storm, media reports showed, and one woman suffered minor injuries.
About 6,000 homes were reportedly without power south of the city and rescue services received more than 200 calls for help in the city.
Police warned the public against sightseeing in damage-hit areas.
“The tornado risk has now subsided but there is a very good chance of more thunderstorm activity for the rest of today,” bureau senior meteorologist James Taylor said.
Additional reporting by AFP
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