Australian Town Of Chinchilla Hit With Softball-Sized Hail From 'Out Of Nowhere'

Chinchilla, Australia is assessing damage left by a massive Saturday night storm that pelted the eastern city with softball-sized hail and dropped 3 inches of rain in less than two hours.

Per the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the hailstones measured up to 4.7 inches in diameter. Onlooker Diane Tong said they "seemed to come [from] out of nowhere."

Dangerous storms producing huge hail on the Darling Downs. This picture just taken in Chinchilla. #WINNews pic.twitter.com/KntlJVx34D

— Caitlin Holding (@CaitlinTHolding) March 21, 2015

In addition to damaging cars, breaking windows, and downing trees, the storm caused "widespread damage" to the area's power network, reports Surat Basin News, with 1,300 homes losing power in Chinchilla, and supply interruptions for around 3,000 customers in the area.

Nasty weather at Coppa Creek NE of Moree via @AdrianGoonan These silos are still standing others ended up in the dam pic.twitter.com/dJcn1ZfPfo

— Sandra Godwin (@sandra67) March 23, 2015

"I've never seen anything near it," Chinchilla resident Rob Hart told the Surat Basin News. "Tiles on the roof were smashed, and the ceiling collapsed from all the water coming in."

Ray Brown, the mayor for Western Downs, a governing region which includes Chinchilla, told ABC nobody was injured in the freak storm, though plenty of property was damaged.

Damage aside, Brown said the area is in a drought, and area farmers welcomed the "much needed rain."

Southern Qld town of Chinchilla bombarded with massive hailstones larger than cricket balls. http://t.co/1t431x2vbA pic.twitter.com/iGJxU8hvN8

— ABC News Brisbane (@ABCNewsBrisbane) March 22, 2015

H/T Digg

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/23/chinchilla-australia-softball-hail-storm-video_n_6925270.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news&ir=Weird+News and provided by entertainment-movie-news.com