The scene after a mini-tornado ripped into the Caravan Mart sales yard at Townsville

This caravan was picked up like a toy and hurled 50m over a 6ft perimeter fence

'Fury beyond belief'

WAR ZONE

Mini-tornado wrecks caravan yard

By Dennis Amor
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A QUEENSLAND caravan sales yard resembled war zone after a mini-tornado left a massive trail of wrecked RVs in its wake.

"It's fury was beyond belief," Caravan Mart spokesman Geoff Black told Caravanning News after the freak storm blasted into his yard in the Townsville suburb of Garbutt.

Caravans were picked up like toys and hurled over a 6ft fence and a nine-tonne prime mover pushed across the yard and into a motorhome, tipping it onto its side.

A $100,000 Roadstar caravan was flipped against the fence and huge sheets of corrugated iron, caravan awnings and tree branches littered the yard.

More than 30 caravans were damaged or destroyed as Mother Nature vented her fury.

Parts of some caravans damaged into the 5am onslaught have never been found, Mr Black said.

"The whole place was devastated," he added.

The damages bill is expected to run into hundreds of thousands of dollars and the sales yard is not expected to reopen for at least a month while repairs are carried out and new stock acquired.

The family business is owned by Geoff's parents, Neil and Leila Black, who have been in the industry for about 50 years.

Their other sales yard just a few hundred metres away in Ingham Road escaped relatively unscathed from the mini-tornado, with only a few signs and a fence being blown over.

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