Tornado-like storm hits NSW Southern Tablelands
Destruction following the extreme weather event across the Southern Tablelands yesterday afternoon. (Supplied: NSW RFS Southern Tablelands Zone)
In short:
A violent storm has torn roofs from buildings, toppled trees and caused hail damage near Yass on the New South Wales Southern Tablelands.
The system hit the small community of Good Hope yesterday afternoon.
What's next?
No injuries were reported and the clean-up will continue today.
A violent "tornado-like" storm cell has torn roofs from buildings, toppled trees and brought "golf-ball-sized hail" to a small rural community on the New South Wales Southern Tablelands.
The system hit Good Hope, about 12 kilometres outside Yass, on Saturday afternoon.
Yass Valley councillor and resident David Rothwell said the storm was unlike anything he had ever seen.
"You could actually see it blowing around, like wind going one direction, wind coming the other way, and then it started twisting,"
Cr Rothwell said.
"It made a hell of a noise and then things got pretty wild.
"Lightning strikes and big hail, golf-ball-sized, pounding windows and the roof.
The SES says the storm ripped off six roofs and damaged the roofs of 10 other buildings. (Supplied: David Rothwell)
"I went outside to try and grab all the furniture that was blowing and stuff going everywhere [but] gave that up pretty quick when I saw the dog get blown into the wood shed.
"It was pretty scary."
The NSW SES said the storm ripped off six roofs and damaged the roofs of 10 other buildings.
No injuries have been reported from the violent storm. (Supplied: NSW RFS Southern Tablelands Zone)
Strong winds toppled trees, initially blocking road access to the area.
SES commander for the Yass Hilltops area, Deanne Young, described it as a "tornado-like event".
"It hit very hard and very fast and did some pretty significant damage," she said.
The tornado-like storm forming north of Gunning yesterday afternoon. (Supplied: NSW RFS Southern Tablelands Zone)
"There did appear to be a bit of a funnel forming out of the clouds.
"We didn't get a lot of warning that there was even going to be a storm, but that's how the weather goes quite often in our little patch."
No injuries have been reported.
Good Hope residents are now facing a lengthy clean-up and Cr Rothwell said the damage was "heartbreaking".
"I've got mates whose houses had their roofs ripped off," he said.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.