Sunday, November 17, 2013

'Mini tornado' smashes Sydney shopping centre - Ninemsn


A demountable building is flipped on to its roof at the Hornsby Railway Station during a 'mini tornado'.

A demountable building is flipped on to its roof at the Hornsby Railway Station during a 'mini tornado'.



Do you have video or photos of the storm in Hornsby this afternoon? Let us know by sending an email to news.feedback@ninemsn.com.au




Six people were inside a demountable building when it was flipped on its roof during a "mini tornado" that struck northern Sydney this afternoon.


In total, 12 people have been taken to hospital as a result of the damaging storm that hit Hornsby at 2.45pm, including a man who suffered multiple lacerations to his head from flying debris.


He was one of five people treated by paramedics at the Hornsby Railway Station on George Street, where the demountable building was flipped, a spokeswoman for the Ambulance Service said.


However, it was not known if any of those inside the demountable needed to be treated.


Six people at the Hornsby Westfield were hospitalised with minor injuries, including a 50-year-old woman hit by glass, the spokeswoman said.


The details of the other patients were not yet known.


At the Hornsby Library on George Street, a 19-year-old woman was believed to have suffered shock after the building was damaged during the storm.


"She may have suffered shock ... it was a bit of mayhem out there," the ambulance spokeswoman said.


"The last note said (it was) unknown if she was unconscious."


Witnesses have described the brief and destructive storm as a "mini tornado" after it tore through the suburb.


It collapsed the ceiling of a cinema and smashed windows of the shopping centre.


"A report of a section of ceiling in one of the cinemas has collapsed. We're unsure of further details of persons trapped or people injured in there," a Fire and Rescue NSW spokesman told ninemsn.


"We have got crews inside the building doing assessment and search and rescue.


"Other emergency services are on the scene and the shopping centre is being evacuated.


"We have numerous crews on the way and on the scene but it's obviously still unfolding."


The spokesman said pedestrians in the car park of the shopping centre had been injured.


Trees and power lines have been brought down in streets near the shopping centre.


"We don't believe there is any flash flooding but there is certainly storm damage and wind damage, the spokesman said.


"I believe there's quite a bit of debris as well as damage to the building."


Author: Kieran Campbell. Approving editor: Jack Hawke


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