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Wild weather lashes Australia’s east coast with at least two tornados reported in regional NSW Wild weather brings flash floods in Sydney and at least two tornados reported in regional NSW
(about 4 hours later)
Severe weather warnings remain in place, including alerts for flash flooding in Sydney, and damaging winds and hazardous surf across New South Wales Light rail passengers rescued in Randwick on Wednesday night as severe weather warnings remain in place across NSW
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Wild weather is lashing Australia’s east coast, with heavy downpours triggering a surge in calls for assistance. Two tornadoes, record-breaking rain and large hail have hit New South Wales in the 24 hours to Thursday afternoon, as supercell thunderstorms and a band of rain sweep the state.
Multiple severe weather warnings remain in place on Thursday, including alerts for damaging winds and hazardous surf across New South Wales. Heavy downpours triggered a surge in calls for assistance.
At least two tornadoes were reported across the state, including one captured on camera from a fire tower at Young as it tore through a field. Andrew Edmunds, a spokesperson for the State Emergency Service, said crews had responded to “a large volume of incidents” with more than 850 calls for assistance in a 50-minute period around 8.30pm on Wednesday. Crews responded to about 600 incidents.
The State Emergency Service has received more than 850 calls in the past 24 hours, mostly due to heavy rain. A number of vehicles were caught in flash flooding, including a light rail vehicle stuck on Anzac Parade.
During 50 minutes on Wednesday, the service received a surge of calls from across Sydney, including reports of water flooding homes and stranding vehicles on roads. “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,” Edumunds said.
A group of hikers were rescued at Wattamolla, south of Sydney, after heavy rainfall hit from 1pm on Wednesday. The SES also assisted about 10 passengers from a bus, one of a number of vehicles that “came into strife with the heavy rain”.
Conditions are expected to ease on Thursday, although several warnings remain in place, including for damaging winds in parts of the Hunter, Mid North Coast and Northern Tablelands. At least two tornadoes touched down on Wednesday afternoon – one near Young in the state’s south-west, and one near Caragabal, about 400km west of Sydney by road.
Damaging wind gusts with peak speeds of 90km/h are expected to last into the afternoon due to a complex low pressure system, the Bureau of Meteorology says. Tornadoes are fairly unusual and particularly rare in NSW, said Angus Hines, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology.
Meanwhile, a hazardous surf warning has been issued for Macquarie Coast, Hunter Coast, Sydney Coast, Illawarra Coast and Batemans Coast. They form from supercell thunderstorms, Hines explained, where a column of rising air spirals northwards and creates a vortex, which – when the conditions are right – can then spiral down and eventually touch the ground.
Large and powerful south-to-southeast waves are forecast to batter the northern and central coasts through to early Friday, bringing hazardous surf and increased risk of damaging waves and coastal erosion. On average, Australia experiences 60 to 80 tornadoes a year, he said.
NSW Police Marine Area Command has advised people to consider staying out of the water and avoid walking near surf-exposed areas. “A lot of those go pretty much unnoticed because they occur over very sparsely populated places. And a good chunk of them happen in the far southwest exposed coasts of Western Australia.”
The tornadoes were only one aspect of this week’s severe weather, which also saw record-breaking rain, large hail and strong winds in parts of the state.
Several Sydney suburbs saw their highest September rain in the 24 hours to Thursday afternoon, as a band of heavy and persistent wet weather “set up shop” over the NSW coast, impacting areas including Sydney, Wollongong, the Illawarra and down to the south coast.
In Sydney, 122mm of rain was recorded at Observatory Hill weather station, making it the city’s second highest September rainfall on record. The last time the site recorded rainfall close to this figure was 110mm in 1883 – the daily record is 144.5mm on 10 September 1879.
According to the BoM, several other sites recorded their highest September daily rainfall by 9am Thursday:
Collaroy (Long Reef golf glub): 108mm
Sydney Botanic Gardens: 116mm
Rose Bay (Royal Sydney golf club): 110mm
Randwick (Randwick St): 145.8mm
Marrickville golf club: 81mm
Peakhurst golf club: 113mm
Cronulla South bowling club: 147mm
Campbelltown: 99mm
Camden airport: 77.8mm
Collaroy (Long Reef golf glub): 108mm
Sydney Botanic Gardens: 116mm
Rose Bay (Royal Sydney golf club): 110mm
Randwick (Randwick St): 145.8mm
Marrickville golf club: 81mm
Peakhurst golf club: 113mm
Cronulla South bowling club: 147mm
Campbelltown: 99mm
Camden airport: 77.8mm
The highest fall was 181mm at Greenwell Point, 93km south of Wollongong.
“Quite a lot has happened over that last 24 hours,” Hines said on Thursday morning. “NSW has had, maybe not every flavour of severe weather, but certainly a good selection.”
Multiple severe weather warnings remained in place on Thursday, including alerts for damaging winds and hazardous surf across New South Wales.
The SES continued to monitor for minor flooding along several rivers, which could lead to local road closures.
A group of hikers were rescued at Wattamolla, south of Sydney, after heavy rainfall hit from 1pm on Wednesday. On Thursday at 7am, wind speeds of 100km/h were recorded at the coastal picnic area.
Conditions were 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.
Damaging wind gusts with peak speeds of 90km/h were expected to last into the afternoon due to a complex low pressure system, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
Large and powerful south to south-east waves are forecast to batter the northern and central coasts through to early Friday, bringing hazardous surf and increased risk of damaging waves and coastal erosion.
NSW police marine area command advised people to consider staying out of the water and avoid walking near surf-exposed areas.