On the evening of October 14, a tornado cut a 200 metre wide swathe through the northern section of UNE’s campus. It left behind considerable damage to vulnerable infrastructure in its path, and annihilated many of the stately eucalypts that distinguished this part of the campus. 

Tornadoes occur periodically in New England, but they tend to sweep through farmland and seldom cause infrastructure damage. The October 14 event destroyed 11 homes in and around Armidale, and tore the tops out of hundreds of trees. These images convey some of the extent of the havoc at UNE, but not the less dramatic costs, like lost tiles and windows and subsequent water damage.