A cluster of tornados hit towns within Queensland’s Bundaberg Region on 26 January, 2013. They were caused by warm unstable east to north-easterly winds feeding into ex-tropical cyclone Oswald, which formed in the Gulf of Carpentaria on 21 January.
The first tornado hit Bargara at about 1 pm, bringing down powerlines, tearing off roofs and flinging iron and windows across the streets. A disaster was declared in this area. Burnett Heads, just north of Bargara, was impacted at about 3 pm, with a third tornado ripping through Coonarr soon after. Bungadoo, around 40 km south southwest of Bundaberg was hit just after 4 pm and the fifth tornado struck again at Burnett Heads about 6.21 pm, damaging the roofs of two homes and several power lines.
A technical forecaster from the Bureau of Meteorology said they were not mini, but rather proper tornados, which had brought down power lines and caused major damage to shopping centres.
At least 20 people were injured, two seriously, when a Norfolk pine crashed the cabin of the ute they were sitting in.