A tornado that ripped through the CBD of Ulladulla on the NSW South Coast on Saturday has left homes uninhabitable and severe damage in its wake.
The State Emergency Service (SES) said the tornado, which reached a wind-gust front of 98 kilometres per hour about 1pm, impacted 15 properties.
More than half a dozen were severely damaged and two of them deemed uninhabitable, the residents forced to relocate to the homes of friends and family.
SES Deputy Incident Commander Tracy Provest said it had a “devastating” impact.
The NSW State Emergency Service responded to 34 reports of damage in Ulladulla. (Supplied: Edwin Fletcher)
“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,” she said.
“We’ve had trees down come through houses.”
Street signs were also torn out of the ground and uprooted trees and falling branches fell on cars.
“Amazingly, nobody was injured,” Ms Provest said.
“Even the couple of trees that came down on cars, the people who were in the cars managed to get out.
“[One] lady was across the road buying fish and chips and she watched a tree come down on her car. She was so thankful that she wasn’t in it.”Loading…
Ms Provest said she had never seen anything like it.
“I’ve been here since 2003, and I think for a lot of people who live locally, this is definitely a first,” she said.
“One fellow had a small tinny on a trailer at the front of his house, it flipped the tinny off the trailer, lifted the trailer and knocked it into his car.”
The tornado ripped roofs off homes, leaving two uninhabitable. (Supplied: NSW SES Ulladulla)
The service received 34 calls for help within Ulladulla, with all jobs finalised by Sunday afternoon after crews from as far as Yass were called in as back-up.
Across the state, 438 calls for assistance were received in the 24-hour period.
The town also received 24 millimetres of rain between 9am on Saturday and 9am on Sunday.
SES crews worked across Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning to repair damage to several homes and businesses. (Supplied: SES)
Local captures vision of tornado
Brad Collins was driving in town with his father when he saw the storm unfold and captured a video on his smart phone as the clouds formed into a vortex.
“It developed around us and it was that quick, the next minute it was in front of us,” he said.
“There was stuff flying in the air … then it was all over.”
He described it as “surreal” and “crazy”, later driving past several homes with roofs torn off and one car crushed by a tree.
CCTV from a local cafe showed heavy rain and strong winds sweep through violently, sending umbrellas flying into the harbour.
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The Bureau of Meteorology said the tornado was classified as “sub-severe” but was a unique event.
“For the coast of New South Wales, it’s quite unusual to see tornadoes like that,” meteorologist Tristan Sumarna said.
“Even though it was sub-severe, there was definitely some impact.”
SES volunteers from the Ulladulla unit and across the state responded to the damage. (Supplied: NSW SES Ulladulla)
Ms Provest praised the local clean-up effort, saying Shoalhaven Council and NSW Police assisted with the roads as well as traffic direction, while multiple volunteers pitched in.
“A couple were directly impacted, and other had businesses impacted, and they’ve all been out helping anyway,” she said.
Festival paused for storm
A 2-hour drive north, in Wollongong, the Yours and Owls Festival at Flagstaff Hill was briefly paused when the storm rolled in on Saturday evening.
Festival-goers told the ABC they were directed to seek shelter under tents for about 20 minutes.
Victoria Schuck was in the crowd and said despite the interruption, they made the most of it, holding a sing-a-long under the tents before the show went on.
“I think it added to it; it gives you a good story to tell and it was a lot of fun,” she said.