WILD weather described as a mini-tornado has hit a shopping centre, pub and train station at Hornsby in Sydney's north, causing significant damage but only minor injuries.
Eight people were taken to Hornsby Hospital for treatment after blasting winds tore off roofing, toppled large trees, blew a demountable off its base onto a car and caused a cinema ceiling to collapse.
Emergency authorities said it was extremely fortunate no one was in the Westfield shopping centre cinema at the time.
The stormy blast hit about 2.40pm (AEDT) on Monday, causing power blackouts, the closure of part of the Pacific Highway and disruption to train services.
Dennis Magaropolous, who works in an office next to the shopping centre, said the storm felt and sounded like a bullet train approaching.
"The whole building started shaking," he told AAP.
"It was quite freaky. It was almost like a sonic boom."
State MP Matt Kean was in his office near the shopping centre when the storm struck.
"I could only describe it as a wall of sound that was cascading toward my office," he said.
"I looked out the window thinking a freight train was ripping though the centre of Hornsby to see cyclonic winds destroying anything in its path."
It wasn't a train but the roof of the neighbouring pub, which had been ripped off and was "scraping the concrete as it was smashed down the road", Mr Kean said.
Other witnesses described seeing debris such as roofing and rubbish spiralling into the air like a "mini-tornado".
Ambulance NSW Superintendent Michele Jordan said CCTV footage showed 14 people leaving the cinema just before its ceiling collapsed.
"The movie finished and then the roof blew in, so it was a lucky escape," she said.
Paramedics treated two people at the shopping centre, including one person hit by flying glass when trees smashed against a doorway.
Paramedics also treated five Sydney Trains staff at Hornsby railway station after a demountable was blown on its side, with some of them inside.
One of the patients was treated for a cut to his head caused by flying debris.
Paramedics also treated a 19-year-old woman for shock at the Hornsby library after windows blew in.
Hornsby Mayor Steve Russell praised emergency services for their speedy response.
"They were here within 15 minutes, very quick" he said.
A spokeswoman for the Westfield Group told AAP that customers had been moved out of the centre, which stopped trading and was operating on emergency power.
The Pacific Highway was reopened later on Monday after a fallen tree was cleared, but blackouts kept traffic lights out of action.
The wild weather also brought down a large tree on the railway lines between Asquith and Hornsby, but train services were later restored.
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