Lennox Head TornadoPrint Page

The plaque commemorates the tornado event that destroyed a number of homes in Lennox Head in June 2010.

A tree was planted, but it no longer exists.

Northern Rivers residents battled catastrophic weather conditions yesterday, with a tornado destroying 12 houses, uprooting trees and powerlines and writing off cars and caravans at Lennox Head.  The freak twister, said to have measured 100m wide with wind speeds in excess of 150km/h, is believed to have struck around 7.30am. Residents who witnessed the rare weather event described it as like a bomb going off.

Some of the worst devastation occurred at Lake Ainsworth Caravan Park where, early on, police and emergency workers feared a resident may have been killed in a crushed van. State Emergency Service staff called to the scene later found the caravan unoccupied. It appeared two vans had been sandwiched together and destroyed by the force of the storm. Along Stewart and Gibbon Streets, where the tornado blitzed its furious path, several multi-million dollar houses, some newly built, were left in ruins, with debris strewn across previously manicured lawns.

More than 100 callers rang Richmond Tweed SES for urgent assistance with a mother and daughter taken to hospital with minor head injuries and more than 50 emergency staff responding to requests for help. “It was luck that only two people were injured,” said Deputy Controller Jeff Spash. “It seems that, because of the time of morning, most people were still inside.”

Rural Fire Service’s Far North Coast group captain, Rex Kemp, said it was the worst damage he had seen in more than 20 years on the job.
Excerpts from the Daily Examiner (NSW), 4 June 2010. 

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