ULLADULLA, Australia — A tornado ripped through the CBD of Ulladulla on the New South Wales South Coast on Saturday, leaving homes severely damaged or uninhabitable and drawing a major State Emergency Service response, ABC News reported.
The SES said the tornado, with a wind-gust front of about 98 kilometres per hour around 1 p.m., impacted 15 properties. More than half a dozen were severely damaged and two were deemed uninhabitable, forcing residents to stay with friends and family. “We’ve had quite a number of homes where walls are gone or the roof has peeled off or tiles are on the other side of the road,” SES Deputy Incident Commander Tracy Provest said. Amazingly, nobody was injured, she added.
The service received 34 calls for help in Ulladulla and finalized all jobs by Sunday afternoon with crews from as far as Yass called in as backup. Across NSW, 438 calls for assistance were logged in 24 hours. The town received 24 millimetres of rain between 9 a.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday. Street signs were torn from the ground, trees crushed cars, and a tinny on a trailer was flipped into a vehicle.
Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Tristan Sumarna said the tornado was classified as “sub-severe” but unusual for the NSW coast. Local resident Brad Collins captured video as clouds formed a vortex, calling it “surreal” and “crazy.” SES praised Shoalhaven Council, NSW Police and volunteers for the cleanup. About two hours north, Wollongong’s Yours and Owls Festival briefly paused when the related storm arrived Saturday evening.
Sources: ABC News
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