The twister tore in from the sea shortly before 7:30 am (2130 GMT), hammering the eastern town of Lennox Head with strong winds which ripped roofs from houses and tossed caravans through the air, leaving six people injured.

"It looks like a bomb has gone off in parts of Lennox Head. It's really quite shocking," one resident told ABC radio.

The storm levelled 12 homes and damaged another 30, emergency officials said, with twisting winds carving out a 300 metre-wide path of destruction, injuring six people and leaving thousands without power.

"It's quite a miracle nobody was seriously injured or killed," said NSW Emergency Services Minister Steve Whan.

Surfer Dick Terrill said two spouts of water came rushing up the beach as the storm hit, and one "just went through the middle of Lennox".

"We could literally hear the roofs getting ripped off the buildings and smashing into... trees and that sort of thing. Pretty crazy," Terrill said.

Witness Andy Brown said the storm sounded "like a jet was coming in to land on our house," with sheets of roof metal spinning through the air, while another resident of the town likened it to a "big steam train".

"It took all the roofs off houses, boats off trailers, knocked down fences, sheds," explained Robert Hatcher.

"Iron and that was just flying as high as you could see in the sky."

The weather bureau said the low pressure system which whipped up the twister had moved offshore and was heading towards Sydney, 10 hours south, lashing the east coast with flooding rains.

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