While the Bureau of Meteorology has investigated and officially classified a storm which hit Armidale on Tuesday evening as a "strong wind event", emergency services say it was described by locals as a mini tornado.
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Storm conditions, lightning and strong winds pummeled parts of the Armidale region, particularly in Arding, Uralla, Invergowrie, Rocky River and Saumarez Ponds.
"Some of the homeowners described it as basically a tornado," said the deputy commander of Armidale SES Jock Campbell.
"I had one homeowner tell me he could feel the air pressure change and it felt like the house was lifting. Another described a 'twister-like' storm."
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Trees fell and snapped, in one instance taking out power lines which cut power to residents for nearly 24 hours.
"Emergency services logged 30 calls for assistance on Tuesday evening and worked throughout Wednesday, while Essential Energy restored power to all residents by lunchtime.
Miraculously there was no major damage to buildings and no-one was hurt.
"There were several unplanned power outages which impacted a total of around 1600 customers across the region, from 5.40pm on Tuesday," Essential Energy spokesperson Bronya Pressler confirmed.
"Most of the unplanned outages were due to strong winds bringing trees and vegetation down into powerlines, and electricity network protection equipment operating to switch power off for safety.
"As crews were able to patrol the electricity network, power was restored to customers progressively."
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