Tornado in Lennox Head

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Tornado in Lennox Head

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4 June 2010 at 01:18 #27079
Peter Fitness
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@peterfitness34857
Yesterday, June 3rd, a tornado hit the coastal village of Lennox Head, NSW, where I live. This is an event practically unheard of in Australia, and caught everyone completely by surprise. It formed as a waterspout off the coast, which themselves are quite common, but then came ashore and ripped a 50 to 100 metre wide track through the town. It demolished about 12 houses and severely damaged many others but, by some miracle, no one was killed, or even seriously injured. 2 people were taken to hospital for treatment for minor injuries, but were later released.

The edge of the tornado passed withing 50 metres of our house, but we had virtually no wind, and no damage whatsoever, while buildings just across the street were damaged by flying debris. We were very lucky.

I took some photos after the storm, including one of another waterspout forming out to sea which, luckily, stayed out to sea. One shot, taken from our kitchen window while it was still raining, shows a section of somebody’s roof lying on the road opposite us. Another shows some roofing stuck up in a pine tree.

Ironically, the sun came out soon after, which allowed the emergency services to do their work in good weather. Photos below.

Peter.
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4 June 2010 at 01:18 #7904
Peter Fitness
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@peterfitness34857
4 June 2010 at 08:17 #27080
ashley needham
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@ashleyneedham69188
Wow. How lucky ! It may have caught your boats and that would have been disastrous!!

Seriously, its in the lap of the gods this sort of thing… as you say… a few yards (imperial) over and you may have had no P.C with which to post with, or anything else for that matter.

its not generally known that there are numerous Tornado, or twister, instances in the U.K every year. They never normally amount to anything so go unreported.

My brother lives in Oz, in the south..Mount Martha for those with a map, and they have had a severe drought for the last few years and , perhaps not where he lives, but elsewhere , forest fires were the big fear. I believe the bush extends almost into the heart of Sydney or Melbourne and a forest fire would be devastating.

Ashley
4 June 2010 at 09:47 #27081
David Wooley
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@davidwooley82563
Hello Peter Sorry to hear that your town was in the path of one of those twisters . Speaking to friends in the US about these things I guess it’s a case of bunkering down until the whirling devil passes . Thankfully you came through unscathed .

Dave Wooley
4 June 2010 at 23:44 #27091
Peter Fitness
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@peterfitness34857
Thanks Ashley and Dave, we were lucky indeed. Ashley, many of Sydney’s suburbs are very leafy, and fire is a big worry. I’m not very familiar with suburban Melbourne, but it may be similar. I believe that Australia also experiences many twisters, but very few do damage, as they are in open, rural country. I also understand the Lennox Head twister was the first time the Weather Bureau has officially used the term “tornado”.

The clean up is well under way, and the affected streets are reopened to traffic.

I was sent a series of photos, some of which are below, of the tornado off the coast, then crossing the beach and hitting the town. Very spectacular, unless you happen to be in its path. You will notice, in the last photo, a second twister off to the right.

Peter.
5 June 2010 at 20:32 #27111
ashley needham
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@ashleyneedham69188
This item made it on to the newspapers over here Peter, I saw your post first and when i saw the picture and small write up in the paper I thought woah! i know someone who almost ALSO made the headlines!

Ashley best I can do is a picture of the odd rainbow over our garden.

Edited By ashley needham on 05/06/2010 20:34:17
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