Some Great Lakes residents grabbed the phone to call the SES, while others grabbed their cameras.

Coomba seemed to bear the brunt of it when the storm touched down for a frightening 20 minutes causing a trail of destruction.

Houses along Moorooba Rd, Coomba, were struck by the force of the storm at around 11pm and by early next morning SES crews were in clean up mode.

“We were out there for seven hours straight on Wednesday,” said Pacific Palms SES unit controller Cindy Wrigley.

“Trees were just twisted like tissue paper – it was incredible. It left a real trail of destruction like a mini tornado.”

Coomba resident Tony Clarke also described the storm as a mini tornado.

A keen photographer, he grabbed his camera the next morning to capture the aftermath – verandahs blown away, uprooted trees, crushed water tanks and roof iron wrapped around trees.

Tony carries his camera everywhere and is particularly inspired by his natural surroundings. Once, after weeks spent watching a pair of kites opposite his house rearing a baby, he was lucky enough to photograph its first flight.

“It’s not the best clarity shot but it captured the startled expression on its little face.”

Over in Diamond Beach it was the lightning associated with the storm that drew Alexander Sutherland down to the beach with his camera at around 11pm.

He studied photography as part of his communication studies degree but has pursued a variety of jobs including children’s entertainer (you may have seen him dressed as Pirate Pete) and currently works on a fishing trawler.

But his interest in photography has always remained strong, and on Tuesday evening he spent half an hour on the beach taking up to 50 shots to get the right one (shown below).

Somebody you would expect to have a camera at the ready, is professional photographer Craig Mason and he didn’t disappoint, sending a stunning image into the Advocate. It was taken at around 10pm from the Forster end of the bridge looking south/west and, for the information of photography buffs, he used a Canon 1D Mk11 and 15-30mm lens at 15mm, 30 second exposure at f7.1 (320iso).