A minute of destruction
Like everyone else Dwayne McQuigan wasn’t prepared for the sudden and powerful violence of the tornado that ripped through New Plymouth on Monday.
‘‘It was vicious,’’ he said. ‘‘Just the ferocity of it in such a short space of time. Everything’s cool and then 15 seconds later we have this tidy up.’’
McQuigan said it had been raining heavily when the twister hit at 5.30pm on Monday. ‘‘I could see it there in front of me. It kind of shimmied down the road. I actually thought my house was going to land somewhere in Strandon.’’
Dozens of houses were damaged in the minute of violence that hit New Plymouth. Roofs were torn off, fences pushed down like matchsticks, powerlines were bent and windows smashed. Then it was over.
New Plymouth man Craig Duffield lives on Davies Rd, right in the path of the twister, and was on the phone when it hit.
‘‘I was talking to mum and dad in Whakata¯ ne at the time and I thought it was getting quite noisy. I walked out to my front porch and could see all the horizontal rain coming down.’’
Duffield told his parents there was a twister coming through. They didn’t believe him. ‘‘I said there’s all the aluminium flying up.’’
Less than half an hour later a tornado hit Whakata¯ ne, though Duffield’s parents were not affected.
On Tuesday morning debris still littered the streets and tarpaulins covered houses that lost roofs in the tornado. The tornado tore through the Belt Rd motor camp, along Belt Rd and also hit Gaine St, French St, Kitchener Tce, St Aubyn St and Devon St West in central New Plymouth.
Anna Crawford of the Belt Road Seaside Holiday Park said the power of the tornado had been amazing and it was fortunate no one was hurt. ‘‘Our biggest damage is the trees. We’ve only got minor damage and everyone is OK,’’ she said.
Taranaki Fire and Emergency assistant area manager Steve Dombroski said there were at least 20 houses with minor damage and 11 with major damage in New Plymouth. ‘‘But in the light of day there may be more things to look at,’’ he said.
Dombroski said two teams were coming to New Plymouth to assess the structure of the damaged houses yesterday. He said Monday night had been ‘‘very very busy’’ with emergency services first getting called at 5.30pm that a tornado had caused extensive damage to houses.
Fire crews from New Plymouth, Inglewood, Waitara, Oakura, Opunake, Eltham, Stratford and Ha¯ wera were called in to help on Monday.
‘‘When you get 37 calls coming in we try to get there and do as much as we can,’’ Dombroski said.
He said some of the people with damaged homes had to spend the night at family and friends’ houses. ‘‘There were no injuries, which was fortunate.’’
Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) have set up a command centre on Belt Rd, working with the New Plymouth District Council and Taranaki Regional Council.
‘‘They’ll be going through and assessing all the houses with damage and just ensuring everything’s safe,’’ said Fire and Emergency senior station officer Blake Marston.
They checked 37 damaged houses on Monday night, and there were no further reports of damage after that, he said.
Taranaki Civil Defence posted on Facebook their thanks to Police, Fire and Emergency NZ and New Plymouth District Council ‘‘who did an amazing job of assisting all the residents affected by the tornado.
‘‘And another big thanks to the whole community who banded together to help each other out,’’ they wrote.
Civil Defence has asked any affected residents requiring assistance to call the New Plymouth District Council on 06 759 6060.