Bunbury, Western Australia tornado: Roof of Bunbury prison is torn off
Shocking footage has emerged of a tornado ripping off the roof of a prison in Western Australia.
A freak storm caused widespread damage in the town of Bunbury, about two hours south of Perth, on Friday afternoon, damaging as many as 40 homes.
The tornado was so powerful that it tore off the roofs of some buildings at Bunbury Regional Prison.
WA Department of Justice footage obtained by the ABC shows metal plates being ripped off as insulation material was sent around the prison.
One injured prisoner was taken to hospital. A department spokesperson said ‘a number of accommodation blocks’ in the minimum security area of the prison had been damaged.
About 17 inmates had to be transferred to other facilities.
The roof of Bunbury Regional Prison was ripped off by a tornado in WA on Friday afternoon
Shocking images captured the moment the roof started to crack
Insulation material was sent around the prison as wild weather wreaked havoc in Bunbury
Meanwhile, more than a dozen children were at the nearby Bunbury Police and Community Youth Centre when the storm hit Friday afternoon.
A woman in her 30s at the center was confirmed injured and taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Dramatic footage of the scene, captured by local Ben Della-Sale, shows heavy rainfall, uprooted trees and the roof of the community center collapsing.
WA Police Minister Paul Papalia said the children were miraculously at the back of the building and out of danger when the tornado struck.
“There were approximately 15 neurodiverse young children in the building at the time participating in activities on the gymnasium side of the building and that is the side that was damaged,” he said.
“Almost miraculously, they were at the back of the building, or on the other side of the building, at the time the tornado hit.”
Dozens of people have been displaced due to the wild weather and 140 calls for help have been made to the SES.
A massive cleanup operation is now underway, with workers repairing damaged electricity, telephone and gas lines and volunteers working to clear tree limbs scattered across the city.
New footage has emerged showing the moment a strange tornado ripped through Bunbury, about two hours south of Perth, Western Australia
More than a dozen children were at the Bunbury Police and Community Youth Centre, south of Perth, when the storm hit on Friday afternoon.
Dramatic images from the scene show how the roof and part of a wall of the youth center were badly damaged by the strong winds
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning for the area at 4.27pm, forecasting thunderstorms with damaging winds and rainfall that could cause flash flooding.
Mr Della-Sale told the ABC he saw tree trunks being uprooted by the stormy wind.
‘We could see the rubble and as it came closer I saw palms getting uprooted, twisted, [there were] huge pieces of tin in the air, just thousands of them,” he said.
‘We almost ran into fallen power lines on the road. And there were other people on the other side shouting from the car saying stop. And then we saw the electricity cables in the water.’
Local Ben Della-Sale captured the early stages of the surprise tornado and described how trees were uprooted by the high winds
Mr Della-Stale ended up about 200 meters from the youth center where aAt least six ambulances were sent after a wall collapsed and the roof collapsed.
State Emergency Services incident controller Chris Widmer said volunteers worked all night to clean up debris left in the tornado’s path.
More than 1,300 people are still without power due to damage to the city’s power lines, which is likely to last well into Sunday.
A massive cleanup operation is now underway to clear the power lines, tree branches and debris strewn by the storm
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services first reported that a tornado struck Bunbury about 4 p.m.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning for the area at 4.27pm, forecasting thunderstorms with damaging winds and rainfall that could cause flash flooding.
More than 33,000 homes were initially plunged into darkness due to power outages.
As many as forty houses were damaged and dozens of people were displaced