A tornado has hit Australia’s biggest city of Sydney with record wind speeds of 213 kilometers per hour, bringing down trees and power lines and destroying homes and businesses.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) issued a tornado warning on Wednesday, saying the storm had been the fastest on record for the state of New South Wales.
"Very destructive winds associated with a possible tornado affected the Sydney coast around Kurnell at 10:30 this morning,” the BOM said in a statement.
"We don't get situations like that without it being a tornado. It is what's called a supercell thunderstorm and they're one of the most dangerous thunderstorms we get,” Michael Logan of the BOM said.
The storm with cricket ball-sized hailstones destroyed roofs of several homes and left 20,000 homes and businesses without power. The storm also overturned trucks, forced some international and domestic flights to be diverted to other cities and cancelled several flights at Sydney airports.
Hundreds of people have been evacuated from areas affected by the storm and a number of people were transferred to hospitals with minor injuries.
Some 300 people were evacuated from a shopping center in eastern suburbs of Sydney after its roof collapsed. People were also transferred from a desalination plant and Kurnell Public School to emergency evacuation sites.
Rescue workers have received more than 500 calls for help, most of them coming from south and eastern parts of the city.
Police said residents of the storm-affected areas could return to their homes later on Wednesday.
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