News Digest

Australia’s Sydney lashed by tornado-like thunderstorm

Australia’s biggest city Sydney was smashed by a tornado-like storm on Wednesday, with hailstones as big as golf balls and wind speeds of 200kph (124mph). The Bureau of Meteorology said the winds recorded during the storm, which later moved out to sea, could have been the highest on record for New South Wales state. “Very destructive winds associated with a possible tornado affected the Sydney coast around Kurnell at 10:30 this morning,” it said in a statement. "We don’t get situations like that without it being a tornado,“ the bureau’s Michael Logan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

It is what’s called a supercell thunderstorm and they’re one of the most dangerous thunderstorms we get.

Michael Logan, of the Bureau of Meteorology

One resident told Sky News the storm sounded "like a freight train going through”. "I looked outside and everything was like in a whirlwind, all the rubbish bins, everything,“ one woman told the ABC. "It was the most terrifying experience of my life.”