Huge tornado sweeps through Bathurst in NSW

Huge tornado sweeps through Australian town destroying a home and smashing through power lines – while couple watch on in horror fearing they are DOOMED

• A tornado has ripped through the town of Meadow Flat in NSW on Thursday 
• At least one home was flattened and a person has reportedly been injured  

By Brett Lackey For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 07:53 BST, 30 September 2021 | Updated: 08:10 BST, 30 September 2021

At least one home has been destroyed after a tornado tore through a small town west of Sydney. 

Residents in Meadow Flat, which is between Lithgow and Bathurst, were stunned when they looked out their windows on Thursday afternoon. 

At least one person has been injured as the twister swept through the community.  

The tornado which swept through Meadow on Thursday afternoon (pictured) 

A huge weather system is battering the south east of Australia with wild winds and rain (pictured) 

The Bureau of Meteorology said earlier this week a massive low pressure system was moving east across the country causing days of drenching rain wild winds. 

 ‘In the first significant storm outbreak of the season, severe thunderstorm warnings are expected with flash flooding a particular risk,’ Bureau meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said.

The heaviest rain will be on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range as the low pressure trough hit the mountains and is pushed upwards.

‘Severe thunderstorms are likely with the risk of hail, damaging winds and heavy rainfall that could lead to flash flooding,’ Ms Bradbury warned. 

Rainfall in excess of 100mm is expected in this area between Wednesday and Friday – with rivers expected to break their banks and cause flooding in parts of NSW, Victoria and Tasmania. 

At least one person has been injured and a home flattened as the tornado descended on the small town (pictured) 

The NSW storm season officially starts on Friday.

Emergency Services Minister David Elliott welcomed the delivery of a deployable Mobile Incident Command Centre to deal with any disasters.

‘It can be easily deployed to any location around the state, and further improves the NSW SES’ prompt co-ordination and response to natural disasters’, Mr Elliott said in a statement on Tuesday.

The SES is also getting new rescue vehicles, including six new ‘Unimogs’ which can operate in flood waters up to 1.2 metres.

Residents were shocked to see the twister with the extreme weather event a rare site in Australia (pictured)

The SES $56.4million fleet replacement program was on track to deliver 270 vehicles, 124 marine vessels and 95 trailers to some of the state’s most flood prone areas.

SES Commissioner Carlene York said her volunteers were preparing for a challenging storm season.

‘The difference between now and last year’s flooding is our dams are pretty full,’ she told Sydney radio 2GB on Tuesday.

‘We’ve had a lot of rain over the winter so the ground is pretty saturated … so it increases the risk of flash flooding.’

New South Wales on the western side of The Great Dividing Range is copping the worst of the wild weather (pictured) 

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