2003 Bendigo tornado

The 2003 Bendigo tornado was an F2 tornado which hit the city of Bendigo, Victoria, Australia about 6.30 pm on 18 May 2003. Wind speeds ranged from 130 km/h to 150 km/h at the core of the storm.[1]

Aftermath of the tornado at Nelson St, California Gully

The city of Bendigo is located in Victoria, a southeastern state in Australia. This southeastern region of Australia has seen tornadoes in the past, but, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, the tornado was an unusual occurrence for central Victoria and the last similar event occurred in Wonthaggi in 1993.[2][3]

Impacts and Casualties

The tornado traveled seven kilometers with a 500 meter wide path in less than ten minutes.[3] The main areas hit were the city's northern suburbs of Eaglehawk and California Gully which had severe damage and power outages. Overall, no one was injured, but the tornado left eight homes destroyed, 44 homes with serious damages, trees torn up, and power was lost in up to 18000 homes (located in Bendigo, California Gully, Eaglehawk, Epsom, Long Gully and Maiden Gully).[1][3] Also, the tornado disrupted society as a whole with traffic disruption on the Loddon Valley Highway (runs from Bendigo to Kerang) and suspension of certain V/Line train lines.[1] The damages were estimated to cost up to millions of dollars.[4]

There was flash flooding and minor damage across other suburbs of the city (including Strathfieldsaye and Flora Hill) and other parts of central Victoria experienced power outages.[1][3]

Aftermath

Emergency efforts quickly started to get the area safe and electricity back into homes.[3] Victims were also given assistance, including:

  • The Department of Human Services, a department with the responsibility of helping to provide aids and services to the people of Australia, helped those who became homeless due to storm damages.[1]
  • The State Emergency Service (SES), a volunteer organization that provides help after declared disasters, responded to 128 calls and 70 SES volunteers from 11 different units helped to rebuild houses.[4]
  • The state government gave grants of up to $22800 which includes an emergency funding of $900 per household for people to purchase short-term accommodations and necessary supplies.[4]
  • The Insurance Council of Australia covered wind and storm damages for the insured.[4]

References
  1. "'Mini tornado' wreaks havoc – theage.com.au". Melbourne: theage.com.au. 19 May 2003.
  2. Allen, John. "The Tornado Climatology of Australia 1795–2014" (PDF). The International Research Institute for Climate and Society, The Earth Institute at Columbia University.
  3. "Taking a look back as the decade closes". Bendigo Advertiser. 1 January 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  4. "It was a dead-set tornado all right". The Age. 20 May 2003. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
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