A number of patients and infants were rescued after a hail storm caused a collapse in Lismore Base Hospital in Northern New South Wales.
Hail storm caused scaffolding to suddenly fall down on the roof of a maternity ward. During the accident, 12 mothers and 5 babies were inside the ward. Tracey Ryan was within the vicinity of the Lismore Hospital collapse where she recounts what she witnessed during the accident.
"[There was a] young lady that was screaming 'my baby, my baby' over and over again near the nurses station - she'd been hit by plaster and she was cradling her little premmie baby," Ryan recalls.
"She'd sort of sheltered the baby while she got hit by the plaster and, in the meantime, they were telling people not to go any further because of perhaps electrical wires, but the whole time you could hear the water gushing in, the roof collapsing."
All patients were reported to be uninjured during the Lismore Base Hospital collapse. The patients were safely moved to another part of the facility where renovations are underway.
Six trucks from the NSW fire brigade responded to the scene of the Lismore Hospital collapse. Ambulance, police and SES were also sent to Lismore hospital to make sure that everyone is safe.
Prior to the incident, warnings were issued by the Bureau of Meteorology about incoming thunderstorms, hailstones and heavy rain in Lismore. Areas included in the warnings are Coffs harbor, Dorrigo, Grafton, Tenterfield and Sawtell. At around 4:30 pm AEDT, hail as big as golf balls were reported not only in Lismore but also in Tatham. In line with that, golf-ball sized hail was also observed in the south of Bellingen. Lismore and Coffs Harbour are the top areas most affected by the hail storms with thousands of households and companies losing power.
Within 30 minutes, the amount of rain that fell in Belongil Creek was 50 millimetres while Repentance in the Northern Rivers area had 43 millimetres.
A devastating thunderstorm was also observed to be moving across the south-east from Warwick to Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
