Dust storms, heavy rain and a “tornado” tore through southeast Queensland overnight as wild weather continues to lash parts of the country.
Dust storms, heavy rain and a “tornado” tore through southeast Queensland overnight as wild weather continues to lash parts of the country.
At a large cattle station near Goondiwindi, on the NSW-Queensland border, huge farm sheds housing heavy equipment were flattened after locals said a “tornado” ripped through the region.
“Well 2021 harvest we survived a tornado, get all the gear in the shed before the storm hits and all of us boys in the shed having a beer and this happens,” Brodie Cook wrote on Facebook, alongside footage of the destruction at Kindon Station.
“Everyone ok but Kindon Station is a war zone, most sheds gone, hand full (sic) of silos, sippy cup time I think.”
The Bureau of Meteorology has not confirmed if there were any official tornadoes recorded across the Sunshine State overnight – but residents in Bucca, west of Bundaberg, reported a similar incident on Wednesday, when a thunderstorm uprooted trees and caused widespread damage.
Witnesses described the storm as being sudden and unexpected, with one 60-year-old man lucky to be alive after a fallen tree caused the ceiling of his shed – where he’d been sleeping – to collapse around him.
“He heard a loud bang in the middle of the night and woke up about three o’clock this morning and it was just all over his bed,” the man’s sister told 9 News.
“We thought we’d come out here, I came out here at seven o’clock this morning, I thought he’d be dead.
“It’s going to take few days to get over it, he’s crying all the time.”
Dust storms were also circulating in southwest Queensland last night in Thargomindah, where wind gusts reached 93km/h.
Armageddon-like photos of the town, enveloped in a blanket of thick brown dust, were shared to social media by residents.
Bulloo Shire Mayor Jon Ferguson told the ABC there had not been a dust storm that severe for a few years.
“I was doing some stuff in the council office and one of the guys looked out and said ‘God, look at this dust storm coming’,” he said.
“It was sort of in the southwest and starting to roll in and pick up and then away she went.
“That was a bit after 5pm and it got real dark and the street lights started to come on.”
A complex low and extended trough is expected to bring supercell thunderstorms to northern NSW and southern Queensland again today.
BOM senior meteorologist Jonathan How said that temperatures of up to 36 degrees across the two states would be hosed down by a potential supercell thunderstorm this afternoon, bringing with it damaging wind gusts, large hail and heavy rainfall.
“There’s also the possibility of tornadoes, we can’t rule that out,” Mr How said.
The system will linger over Brisbane and the Gold Coast into Saturday before easing on Sunday.
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