Australian Severe Weather Forum

Police say three women have been injured when a water funnel or mini-tornado lifted a caravan on the New South Wales central coast on Saturday afternoon.

Officers say the mini-tornado tore through a caravan park at The Entrance about 3:00pm and dumped one of the caravans in a nearby lagoon.

Three women staying at the park have been taken to Gosford Hospital, one with a broken arm and the others with cuts and bruises.

- ABC

On Saturday storms battered parts of eastern Sydney whilst much of the rest of the city remained almost bone dry.

The bright sunny skies of Saturday morning lulled many into leaving their umbrellas at home, indeed there was little evidence of the upper trough lingering ominously offshore. As things warmed up however and the trough moved landward, clouds began to build signaling that something may be afoot.

By 2.30pm clusters of storms began sparking offshore, one south of Wollongong and another just out from The Entrance. By 3pm rain was falling along parts of the coast and a tornado had struck The Entrance.

It wasn't until about 7.30pm that the storms really began to move inshore. Over the next few hours most Sydneysiders were treated to an impressive lightning show, although those in the eastern suburbs would have been diving for shelter as heavy rain moved in.

In the subsequent hours to 9am on Sunday Randwick collected 77mm, their highest May total in 35 years. Mona Vale hit 57mm, Avalon 44mm, Bondi 41mm, yet the city only saw 13mm. The storms made little progress inland and anywhere west of Canterbury saw no rain whatsoever.