"I had never seen anything like that in my life" was the reaction of then-Bendigo City mayor Rod Fyffe when he first saw the damage path from a tornado in 2003.
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Although it mainly touched down in California Gully for a few minutes, it left in its wake a series of destroyed and mangled homes.
Cr Fyffe said he was first alerted that a tornado had hit the city on the night of May 18, but there was no serious damage.
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It was only the next morning after Cr Fyffe drove out to the impacted neighbourhoods to host a meeting did it become clear there was a lengthy clean-up and recovery operation ahead.
"I got out to the Jobs Gully bridge area and I thought 'geez what's all these trucks doing out here'," he said.
"It was only after I had been to the meeting at about 9:30 that I realised the full extent of what had happened, really."
Cr Fyffe said he returned to the office and was contacted by a family who had lost the roof of their home when the twister hit.
He then drove back out to the affected areas and was shown how many properties has been battered during the storm.
"The extent of the damage was just immense...I had never seen anything like that in my life."
Cr Fyffe said he remembers the strong community spirit which helped residents pull through.
People helping to shelter families, lending caravans and supplying food were some of the generous acts which helped those impacted get back on their feet.
"It shows you the resilience of the community and the individuals," he said.
"But it also shows that the community will stand by each other in times of need.
"I know a lot of people did a lot of very, very good work to help their neighbours."
The city councillor said although many families had to work long and hard to rebuild their lives - including fighting to get insurance money to help fix their homes - the city recovered from the storm.
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