Australia Weather News

Lexly Black still remembers the night in 1992 when her house near Bundaberg in southern Queensland was ripped apart by one of Australia's strongest tornadoes.

The F4 tornado that swept through Bucca destroyed nine homes in 10 minutes.

"The cat was sleeping on the washing machine. We didn't see her again," Ms Black said.

"The dog was obviously sucked up and blown away… he came back the next morning with a broken jaw."

This was one of two tornadoes spawned by severe storms over south-east Queensland that day.

Five catamarans were capsized at Maroochydore, beach swimmers were rescued, cattle were lost and golf-ball-size hail damaged homes and stopped the cricket at the Gabba.

The Bundaberg region features regularly in tornado stories.

In 2013 the nearby coastal township of Bargara was ripped apart by one of these vicious swirling systems.

Earlier this month, Bundaberg residents lost roofs when another twister hit the city.

The frequency of twisters hitting the mid-western United States has earnt that region the moniker "tornado alley".

Is the Wide Bay Queensland's tornado alley?

Certainly some of the storms hitting the region have been swift and ferocious in the impact.

Mrs Black said minutes before the 1992 tornado, there was no hint of the danger ahead.

"When it struck, it just seemed like it was going to be a normal storm," she said.

"We shut up the house, put the dog in the garage, and next thing there was no house — it just happened so quickly there was no time to be frightened."

She said she and her husband were lucky to escape with their lives.

"I was walking down the hallway, bricks started to fall and I put my head in the hall cupboard," Ms Black said.

"My husband threw himself into the lounge chair and just sort of curled up.

"A piece of roof truss went into the arm of the chair and missed him by a couple of centimetres. It was like a freight train coming through."

'We're getting a lot more reports'

Bureau of Meteorology severe weather forecaster Tony Wedd said Australia experienced a lot more tornadoes than many people realised.

"A lot of tornadoes in Australia would go unreported simply due to our very sparse population," he said.

"But I think the public awareness of tornadoes is gradually increasing, and with social media we're seeing a lot more reports and even pictures of tornadoes coming in."

In Queensland, tornados form in outbreaks of widespread severe storms, as well as in tropical systems such as cyclones.

Bundaberg is in the firing line for both of those types of weather.

"Up around the Bundaberg area we have seen a fairly significant number of tornado reports over the last few decades," Mr Wedd said.

Many US tornadoes much larger

But Bundaberg is not the only place in southern Queensland to experience tornadoes.

The south-east coast forecast region has actually recorded more tornadoes than the Wide Bay, which is equal second with the Darling Downs.

In comparing Queensland tornadoes to the US twisters, Mr Wedd said it was also a matter of size.

"Tornadoes in the US tend to be stronger than the ones we get here simply because their atmospheric characteristics are much more favourable over there," he said.

"They get warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico that penetrates inland and that meets very cold dry air that has had to pass over the Rockies."

Tornado intensity is measured on the Fujita scale from F0 to F5, based on the damage they inflict.

The Bucca tornado was rated a F4 and possibly a F5.

Photos of the twister were taken by neighbours up the road from Mrs Black.

They told her they saw parts of her house 100 metres in the air and were amazed to find the couple alive.

Mrs Black said she and her husband had no hesitation in rebuilding close by.

Despite their ordeal, she said they did not fear storms.

But she said she was well aware that day in 1992 could easily have ended in tragedy.

ABC