Two Tauranga employees braced themselves as a 'white wall of wind' surrounded them and large branch pierced through the ceiling above them.
Eastern HiFi employees Bruce Devlin and Patrick Smith were inside the Cameron Rd store with a customer when strong gusts blew open the store's front and back exits.
Read more: Tornado causes chaos in Bay of Plenty
"I was talking to a customer and it was really windy, then within 30 seconds it went from windy, to horizontal rain to stuff flying past," Mr Devlin said.
"Looking out there was just a white wall of wind like a tunnel." Mr Smith said.
Metservice meteorologist Claire Flynn said Tauranga had definitely been hit by 'serious wind' and the worst of the weather was not necessarily over yet.
"Given the situation, it's very likely it could have been a tornado or a straight wind gust," she said.
"It's serious wind either way. It's possible it was a tornado.
''Thunderstorms often have strong gusts associated with them and I don't think that will be the end of it,'' she said.
"At the moment there's a low approaching the country, and with lows we get instability which means thunderstorms can pop up.
"You may see some showers and thunderstorms still, but they should clear overnight and ease tomorrow."