A small but powerful tornado severely damaged one Awanui house, threw trampolines 300m and caused a power outage.
Kaitaia deputy chief fire officer Craig Rogers said Gill Rd residents saw a wall of water and wind approaching about 5.45pm on Saturday before it ripped the roof off a house in the street.
"They saw sort of the rain and that coming through and they were watching the [roofing] iron circle around," Mr Rogers said.
The residents were inside their house but because of the noise from the storm outside were initially unaware of the severity of the damage, he said.
"I think they didn't realise their roof had been taken off, by all accounts," Mr Rogers said.
A piece of roofing iron then became stuck in a power line, which caused an outage for a handful of people.
There were at least two trampolines in places they should not have been and it is likely they were picked up and moved between 200-300 meters, Mr Rogers said.
While the two-storey modern house whose roof was taken off was the most damaged, many fences were broken and trees blown over, he said.
A Top Energy spokesman said about 10 customers were left without electricity from the roofing iron hitting the power lines, but all were reconnected by 11.30pm.