Australia has been getting battered with storms this past couple of weeks bringing a lot of much needed rain and in the state of South Australia it even brought a tornado:
THE terrifying wind storm that lashed South Australia’s Mallee yesterday may have been a genuine tornado.
The Bureau of Meteorology says it will examine damage at the town of Pinnaroo, where winds were so strong that Stobie poles were bent by its force.
Although severe storms are sometimes described as mini-tornados, the giant funnels of wind that regularly cause devastation in the United States are considered rare here.As winds gusted up to 90km/h, the State Emergency Service received 15 reports of building damage at Pinnaroo.
This included the hospital, where three trees were uprooted and an air conditioning unit was dislodged, and two Devon Terrace homes expected to require demolition.Adelaide received just 0.2mm in the hours to 9pm, but senior forecaster Brett Gage said there was a lot more rain on the way. “Friday is the day when we could get a lot of rain,” he said.
“Twenty to 30mm is possible across a large area – the agricultural areas and southern pastoral districts, which includes Adelaide.”
State Emergency Services spokeswoman Judith Bleechmore said there was “quite a bit of cleaning up to do” in Pinnaroo. “The mini-tornado cut a swathe about 3km wide… but there are no known injuries,” she said. [The Advertiser]
Tornadoes are very rare in Australia with only one being recorded last year that occurred right here in Victoria. Fortunately no one was hurt and damage was light. However, I don’t think anyone minds an occasional tornado if it means this much rain is going to continue to fall, especially during the usually dry summer months here in Australia.
