‘Carnage ... and then it was over’
‘Erratic’ and ‘scary’ tornado startles Paeroa residents
Wild weather has lifted a roof, downed trees and caused power outages in the Waikato. Fire and Emergency NZ responded to reports of a tornado ripping through Paeroa — with eyewitnesses claiming there has been extensive damage to property and vehicles and more than 1000 homes in the area left without power.
The caretaker of the caravan park and holiday park told the Herald residents of the park were terrified as the tornado lifted the roof of the campground’s hall.
“I saw it coming from over the back of the thing [hall], it came through the trees and ripped branches off when it just smashed the hall.
‘‘It was really scary, bits and pieces were flying everywhere.”
Two people were inside the hall at the time, he said, “and they were terrified”.
He said nobody was injured, but there was quite a bit to clean up.
“It’s just a matter of going around seeing what’s what.”
Paeroa resident Erik Page described a vortex of leaves the “size of a rugby field” passing nearby.
Page’s brother, David, captured the tail end of the tornado on video as it headed for town, where he understood there was extensive damage.
“It seemed like the end of the world for a moment, there was no time to do anything.
‘‘It wasn’t the wind we heard first, it was the rain being pushed by it that
smashed us,” David Page said.
Auckland resident Liz Waters says she was travelling through the Karangahake Gorge when she encountered a “very, very unusual dark cloud moving at a great rate”.
State Highway 2 through Karangahake Gorge is closed due to a fallen tree blocking lanes in both directions.
“We were just hit by wind and a tree came down and then a caravan drove past us with a tree wedged between the car and the caravan.”
“We slowly came to a standstill and up ahead were a whole lot of trees that had come down on a truck that
was trying to extricate itself.”
She did not believe that anyone was hurt.
“My husband was about two minutes in front of us and he’s lost his window wipers,” she said.
“It was horrendously strong winds, very erratic, and then carnage and then it was over. I’ve never been in anything like it.”
Meanwhile, Air New Zealand cancelled two flights after a plane was struck by lightning after departing Auckland. No one was injured and Air New Zealand told Newshub that lightning strikes aren’t uncommon.