news, local-news, tornado, bendigo, axe creek, damage, house, destroyed, family

A black tornado was whirling through a big white cloud when Justin Finch came out of his new shed. Knocking down trees as it went, it kept travelling down to ground. It sounded like a thousand jet engines by the time it came over his Axe Creek house. Just 500 metres away the same tornado destroyed a family home on Patons Road. Mr Finch's home suffered only minor dints. Mr Finch believes the Patons Road home's owner is lucky to be alive. Read more: He described the site as "mayhem", after having helped the family pick through the ruins of their house on Sunday morning. The winds hit the area at about 4pm on Saturday. "They're a young family, they've lost everything. It literally took 15 minutes if that, and the whole house is gone," Mr Finch said. "[It's a] double brick house, it's not weatherboard or anything, and it's fully knocked everything, and double brick's pretty strong." One man - the only person home at the time - suffered a laceration to the head. He was lucky to be alive, Mr Finch said. Mr Finch said the owner had come outside after hearing the noise, when the wind mass touched down. "When he seen it touch ground, he thought, 'S**t this is coming straight towards me', so he's turned around to run inside with the dog, something's hit him in the head, knocked him out, so he's come to, house was gone," Mr Finch said. "I don't even know how he's alive to be honest with you." Read more: Mr Finch says his family were the lucky ones. By comparison his property was barely touched. "At first I thought it was thunder, but it didn't stop, but then I thought it was a jet, but it got louder and louder and louder," Mr Finch said. "By the time it hit our place, it was that loud ... the only way I could really describe it was if you were standing behind a jet as it was taking off." Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Keris Arndt said there was a good chance what tore through Axe Creek was a tornado. Victoria wasn't known for tornadoes, but they also weren't rare in the state, he said. It took a few meteorological factors to create a tornado. "[Tornadoes] need exactly the right conditions, which is obviously what happened yesterday, and they can be very dangerous," he said. "It's really unlucky that it just happened to go right over the home, especially where there's not-damaged areas nearby." Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.

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