Tributes are flowing for a beloved grandmother and AstraZeneca scientist, who has been identified as the woman killed when a freak “mini-tornado” ripped through Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
Susan Cobham was fatally struck by a fallen tree which was hit by lightning as a wild “micro-burst” smashed the suburb of Narrabeen.
The 68-year-old had been celebrating at her neighborhood Christmas gathering at Narrabeen Surf Life Saving Club when the freak five-minute storm erupted.
Ms Cobham decided it was time to go home and was making her way back to her car when lightning struck the large pine tree in the Ocean St car park and she was struck.
Two other women including Ms Cobham’s 71-year-old friend and a 19-year-old were also struck by the tree and are both in hospital in serious but stable conditions with spinal injuries.
Ms Cobham’s heartbroken son described his mother as a “beautiful soul”.
“It is with a very heavy heart that I write to advise of my mother Susan’s passing,” Ben Porter said.
“It was an unlucky freak accident and she has left us far too early and will be sorely missed.”
Friends and family of Ms Cobham have flooded social media with tributes, calling her “present and warm”.
One Facebook user described her as “such a wonderful person”.
According to her social media profiles Ms Cobham had previously worked for AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals.
NSW Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Andrew Holland said the two remaining people were “lucky to be alive” and it “could have been a lot worse”.
“It was a terrible accident … a freak weather event has happened while people were on the beach enjoying themselves as they would on a Sunday afternoon,” Mr Holland told Sunrise.
“A gust of wind hit and unfortunately, it topped one of the large pines and it snapped about a metre above the base.”
The tree collapsed on top of the three victims.
Mr Holland said the strong winds of up to 80km/h had a tragic effect on old trees and would not confirm whether the tree had been hit by lightning.
Clean-up efforts are underway after homes were ripped apart, vehicles smashed and trees were lifted from the ground in the freak weather event.
Footage has emerged of the freak mini-tornado, which lasted just minutes causing trees and powerlines to fall and hundreds of calls to be made to emergency services from 3.30pm Sunday.
Footage shows rain falling sideways and large trees being torn to shreds in the freak five-minute storm.
Videos show the moment the wind and rain smashed Dee Why while scrap metal blows onto parked cars in the street.
Trees can be seen snapping and breaking, with some even ripped from their roots entirely and lifted from the ground.
An apartment building has been left without a roof after it was ripped off and carried away by the winds, which reached up to 130km/h.
Power lines were ripped from their structures and a trampoline was even blown into the ocean.
Power is still out for thousands of homes, with Dee Why and Narrabeen the hardest hit suburbs.
“We are trying to get power back to those areas, generators have been put on the major intersections of roads but we are asking drivers to take time and be patient with each other today,” Mr Holland said.
Rain was falling sideways and debris was flying in the air as the storm, which only lasted a few minutes, lashed the suburbs.
NSW Ambulance Inspector Christie Marks on Sunday said the fatal incident was “tragic”.
“These women were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when this storm hit,” she said.
“As you can imagine the patients had multiple injuries after being hit by falling branches and other debris.”
“We worked to treat them at the scene and get them to hospital for further care.”
She said the strength of the storm is evident in the destruction it caused.
“Given the size of this tree it’s remarkable that there weren’t more people injured.”
Photos shared across social media captured the devastation the wild winds – which at times reached 80km/h – left in their wake as roofs were ripped from buildings and cars smashed by falling debris.
“There appears to have been a mini-tornado, centered on the northern beaches,” local MP Jason Falinkski said on social media.
“We are waiting to find out more but there seem to be some very serious injuries and damage.”
Crews were called to a carpark on Ocean Street in Narrabeen after reports of a tree coming down on Sunday afternoon.
An NSW Police spokesman confirmed one person was declared deceased at the scene.
Two others were critically injured and were transported to Royal North Shore Hospital.
“The area is still considered hazardous, and members of the public are advised to avoid the area,” the spokesman said.
“In order to stay safe, you should treat all powerlines as if they are ‘live’.”
Ausgrid reported the storm had left more than 25,000 people without power in the Northern Beaches and warned it will likely take until at least 10pm until power can be restored.
Sydney woman Carolyn Smith snapped a photo of trees littering the road outside the Narrabeen Sands Hotel as cars attempt to navigate the hazards.
“This storm hit just as we pulled up at the hotel. No power, heading out for a walk to look for our car mirror,” she wrote on Facebook.
Former Olympic sailor Gary Gietz told The Daily Telegraph it was “three minutes of utter mayhem”.
“It came through at 130 to 140 km/h, I reckon,” said the Collaroy Plateau resident.
“I don’t know if it was a tornado but it was tornado strength. It was incredible.
“We have no power and I have never heard so many sirens in my life. The rain was coming sideways and the branches were flying everywhere.”
Another Narrabeen resident told news.com.au: “It’s carnage out there”.
The local said there were powerlines across their street and “the house across the road is pretty much destroyed”.
Another house had their balcony rip off. It went back over the house and blocked the street.
In another nearby house, all of the windows were blown in.
Others reveal the scale of devastation, with the roof of a block of units torn off and strewn across the yard.
In another, lifesavers can be seen retrieving a trampoline from the surf after the wind carried it into the ocean.
A local told Channel 9 of the horror storm: “This is like a tornado.”
Another shocked onlooker said: “You couldn’t see anything, it was that intense. It was a blur of wind and rain and debris everywhere … it was very loud.”
Twitter user Damien Smith filmed palm trees bending in the violent gusts and rain as the storms rolled in.
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