Residents on Queensland's Sunshine Coast are cleaning up after what they described as a mini-tornado.
It's the second big storm to hit the East Coast of Australia in two weeks, and several apartment blocks in a Mooloolaba street didn't stand a chance when ferocious wind whipped through around 6pm on Sunday night (local time).
"I heard the rush coming [and] ran into the lounge," says resident Deborah Willmore.
"It was just this sucking action. I was fighting to shut the kitchen door, the pressure against it was enormous."
Sam Huth says he heard two loud bangs.
"It was the electrical poles and you come outside, and there were just roofs blown off everywhere."
Pawan Kumar and his family ran from room to room to escape, but there was no saving their home.
"We could have lost our life if we stayed another 10 to 15 seconds upstairs," he says.
Neighbours also returned to survey the damage from Sunday night. Power lines were ripped down and cars were crushed.
"It just all happened very quickly, and it was anarchy very quickly," says resident Chris O'Connor.
The wind wasn't the only problem; the storm brought record-breaking rain of around 120 millimetres -- half a year's worth in just 24 hours.
Flooding made roads dangerous and at least one near-miss was recorded on a dash cam.
But some other drivers couldn't even get going, with two women having to be plucked to safety from the roof of their car.
It's the second big storm to hit the east coast of Australia in two weeks; residents are still counting the cost of the last one, which caused $80 million worth of damage.
Newshub.
