Tornado fear stays with Katie
A tornado ripped through Ra¯ hotu nearly five weeks ago, but 10-year-old Katie O’Connor still gets scared at night.
Part of the roof of her house blew off during the storm and the house is still covered with a tarpaulin, Katie said.
‘‘I keep on being told, ‘it’s OK, a tornado doesn’t happen often’. But I’m always scared a tree outside is going to fall into our house.’’
And she’s had to sleep in her grandparents’ room because the tarp moves with the wind, which scares her, she said.
On April 10, when the tornado arrived, Katie heard something shaking the house. ‘‘And then I saw the chimney get sucked up the roof. I turned around and I saw no chimney, then I saw it bang across the wall and fall down on the hearth. I was told to get into the passage, but the first thing that comes to my mind is to run under the table. Then I run into the passageway and I’m huddled and I’m screaming and I’m crying.’’ Around her everyone was saying ‘‘the roof has gone, the roof has gone’’, she said.
‘‘The house is 95 years old. If it was a modern house it probably would have gone. We’re lucky it was more of the olden type.’’
Ra¯hotu School principal Brigitte Luke said returning to normal was a slow, gradual process. ‘‘We have farming families who had things destroyed – fencing, gates, trees down. One farmer has over 150 trees down on one property.’’
The community has had amazing support from Civil Defence, the Taranaki Regional Council and Fonterra’s rapid response team, Luke said. ‘‘Everyone is pulling together. People came from all over Taranaki to help. People are fantastic. The community response was incredible.’’
Two families are still unable to return home.
The farm owned by Ra¯hotu Tavern owners Jackie Broad and Kent Holmes lost a lot of roofs, Broad said.
‘‘We’re still in cleanup mode four weeks later. Five different shed roofs came off – hay shed, implements shed, car shed. The side of the car shed. The house is all right, but there are broken windows in the workers’ houses. Lots of pine trees and macs ripped out of the ground, so its been weeks. There’s fencing down.’’
Most people have probably had diggers for days, she said.
‘‘You have to learn the insurance process, that’s the big thing. Four weeks later you’re just starting to get the claims through, you’re waiting for builders. The resources aren’t there.’’