Australia Weather News

A violent "tornado-like" storm cell has torn roofs from buildings, toppled trees and brought "golf-ball-sized hail" to a small rural community on the New South Wales Southern Tablelands.

The system hit Good Hope, about 12 kilometres outside Yass, on Saturday afternoon.

Yass Valley councillor and resident David Rothwell said the storm was unlike anything he had ever seen.

"You could actually see it blowing around, like wind going one direction, wind coming the other way, and then it started twisting," Cr Rothwell said.

"It made a hell of a noise and then things got pretty wild.

"Lightning strikes and big hail, golf-ball-sized, pounding windows and the roof.

"I went outside to try and grab all the furniture that was blowing and stuff going everywhere [but] gave that up pretty quick when I saw the dog get blown into the wood shed.

"It was pretty scary."

Storm 'hit very hard and very fast'

The NSW SES said the storm ripped off six roofs and damaged the roofs of 10 other buildings.

Strong winds toppled trees, initially blocking road access to the area.

SES commander for the Yass Hilltops area, Deanne Young, described it as a "tornado-like event".

"It hit very hard and very fast and did some pretty significant damage," she said.

"There did appear to be a bit of a funnel forming out of the clouds.

"We didn't get a lot of warning that there was even going to be a storm, but that's how the weather goes quite often in our little patch."

Elizabeth Richardson-Szabo is the director and owner of Good Hope Resort.

She said that a pergola roof from one of the houses came off in the resort and "went rolling up the paddock 120 metres away".

"[The roof] took out a power pole, and some power lines came down in the park," she said. 

She said there was severe damage up the road from the resort, with trees falling down and neighbouring properties being impacted by the destruction.

"One shipping container rolled down a hill 200 metres away," Ms Richardson-Szabo said.

No injuries linked to the weather event have been reported.

Good Hope residents are now facing a lengthy clean-up and Cr Rothwell said the damage was "heartbreaking".

"I've got mates whose houses had their roofs ripped off," he said.

"It's terrible, sheds destroyed, horrible."