Wild weather
A thunderstorm that ‘‘spawned’’ a tornado yesterday left a swathe of damage across the city, while lightning strikes started fires.
A tornado that hit Christchurch has left two people injured, ripped roofs off buildings and scattered debris – some contaminated with asbestos – through the air.
The storm briefly cut power to more than a thousand homes throughout the city and left part of a tree upside down in powerlines.
It hit about the same time as hail rained down on the city yesterday afternoon.
Two people were injured at the SaveMart secondhand shop on Battersea St in Sydenham when the tornado hit the roof. Emergency services were called there about 1.55pm.
ASBESTOS DANGER
The tornado ripped off parts of a DJ Auto roof, spewing asbestos-contaminated debris into the air and over Wordsworth St in Sydenham.
Firefighters wore masks for the clean-up, which was expected to take about an hour, as the debris was drying and crumbling on the street. Wordsworth St, between Waltham Rd and Gasson St, closed shortly after 3pm.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) assistant area commander Mike Bowden warned people not to touch any debris or take it home as a memento.
Canterbury medical officer of health Dr Alistair Humphrey said the public health risk from asbestos in this case was minimal. ‘‘There’s always a concern when you’ve got asbestos blowing around, but I’m sure the fire service has the matter in hand and they will clean it up appropriately.’’
Inhaling or swallowing asbestos fibres can cause scarring of the lung, as well as types of cancer, according to the Ministry of Health website.
While there was no established safe limit, the ministry website said the risk from a single, low-level exposure was extremely low. The presence of asbestos-containing material was not a risk in itself, the ministry said. There was risk of health problems if the fibres became airborne.
TRAIL OF DAMAGE
The FENZ southern communications centre received about 25 weather-related callouts between 2pm and 3pm as the storm made its way across Christchurch, spokesman Andrew Norris said.
‘‘[We have] a swathe of damage through Christchurch from this very short and sharp burst of weather.’’
Damage was reported from Sydenham to New Brighton, he said.
Norris said crews attended callouts for air conditioners, trees, powerlines and roofs being lifted by heavy winds throughout the city.
The SaveMart and the DJ Auto Importers incidents were among the more serious incidents, he said.
LIGHTNING STARTS FIRES Lightning strikes are thought to have started four small fires in trees in Leeston.
Another fire, about 200 metres in size, started in sand dunes at Waikuku beach.
WORKERS HEAR ‘BANG’ Staff at SaveMart told The Press that an electrician was working up a ladder, near the ceiling of the building, when the tornado hit. He fell possibly several metres and was injured. A woman customer, who had a toddler with her, had something hit her head.
The staff said the hail sounded like someone ‘‘throwing bricks on the roof’’ and there was a ‘‘big bang’’ when the tornado hit, which
they thought was a plane crash or an earthquake.
The tornado left a hole in the roof of the building, lifting a section up by about 30 centimetres, and water was falling into the store.
St John said the two had moderate injuries and were heading to Christchurch Hospital.
The boss of the electrician, who asked not to be named for privacy reasons, said the electrician became ‘‘concerned the roof was going down’’. He was taken to hospital to be checked but did not appear to be seriously injured.
He said last night the electrician was having X-rays taken but ‘‘was going to be alright’’.
THUNDERSTORM ‘SPAWNED’ TORNADO
MetService meteorologist Peter Little said the tornado ripped across the city from about 1.45pm to 2pm, accompanied by large hail stones and rain, he said. ‘‘This was one particularly large thunderstorm, which moved over the city and spawned a tornado.’’
The front then moved offshore, where there were reports of water spouts on the ocean.
MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris said the thundercloud was 12 kilometres tall, right up to the top of the troposphere, the lowest level of the atmosphere which contains all our weather.
A severe thunderstorm watch remained, but ‘‘the activity should be starting to die down now’’, Little said.
‘DEBRIS FLYING AROUND’ Builder Ben Nolan was working in Sydenham when he noticed a black sky in the distance then a minute later, saw sheets of iron and even half a tree ‘‘swirling in the air’’.
‘‘Then the next thing you know the tornado comes around a million miles of knots and the roofs were coming off all the buildings.
‘‘Pink batts, trees, bits of everything in the air. It was quite silent, then it stated getting noisier and noisier.’’
Nolan believed the tornado lasted about 10 minutes.
Brad Smith was inside when Nolan told him about the tornado and recorded it on his phone.
‘‘The debris was flying around it was really silent, swirling around, 500 to 600 metres above us.’’
‘TAKE PHOTOS OF DAMAGE’ Insurance Council New Zealand chief executive Tim Grafton said it was too early to say how many insurance claims were made in the wake of yesterday’s storm.
He said if property had been damaged, people should take photos of it before making contact with their insurance provider.
POWER CUTS
Orion spokeswoman Linda McGregor said about 1128 customers lost power due to the severe weather as of 2.30pm. All but 18 homes had their power restored as of 7.45pm last night.
– Reporting by Jonathan Guildford, Sam Sherwood, Oliver Lewis, Jody O’Callaghan, Martin van Beynen, Cate Broughton and Charlie Gates