TORNADO TERROR HITS NSW: Two Twisters Rip Through State as Record Rain Brings Chaos and Destruction
- .Floor-to-ceiling flash flooding inundates Sydney bus, with passengers rescued by emergency services
- Tornadoes touch down near Young and Caragabal, with warnings of more severe weather to come
- Record-breaking rain lashes Sydney, with 122mm of rain recorded at Observatory Hill weather station
Sydney, NSW – A powerful tornado has ripped through New South Wales, leaving a trail of destruction and chaos in its wake. The severe weather event has brought record-breaking rain and flash flooding to parts of the state, with emergency services working overtime to rescue those stranded in the deluge.
At least two tornadoes touched down on Wednesday afternoon, with one reported near Young in the state’s south-west, and another near Caragabal, about 400km west of Sydney. The tornadoes were accompanied by heavy rain, large hail, and strong winds, causing widespread destruction and disruption.
“Crews brought 20 to 30 passengers to safety, and also used an Ark Angel raft to ferry an elderly passenger across some of the water,” said Andrew Edmunds, a spokesperson for the State Emergency Service. “We responded to about 600 incidents.”
The SES also assisted about 10 passengers from a bus, one of a number of vehicles that “came into strife with the heavy rain”. A light rail vehicle was stuck on Anzac Parade, with 20 to 30 passengers rescued by emergency services.
The severe weather has been caused by supercell thunderstorms, which are capable of producing tornadoes. “A lot of those go pretty much unnoticed because they occur over very sparsely populated places,” said Angus Hines, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology. “And a good chunk of them happen in the far southwest exposed coasts of Western Australia.”
Several Sydney suburbs saw their highest September rain in the 24 hours to Thursday morning, as a band of heavy and persistent wet weather “set up shop” over the NSW coast. Sydney’s Observatory Hill weather station recorded 122mm of rain, making it the city’s second highest September rainfall on record.
The wild weather is expected to ease on Thursday, although several warnings remain in place, including for damaging winds in parts of the Hunter, Mid North Coast, the Northern Tablelands, and Lord Howe Island.
Stay tuned for further updates as this breaking story continues to unfold.