'Bango!' Tree crashes through roof, man goes back to sleep

David Davis got the shock of his life when a large tree crashed into his caravan, but he wasn't going to lose sleep over it.

The Tauranga man had been inside his caravan at Silver Birch Holiday Park when he heard an almighty bang on the roof of his mobile home on Thursday night.

"I thought 'the wind and the rain', I thought 'the gusts of wind' ... then all of sudden 'bango'! Everything started falling, and she started pouring inside, you know, where it hit the top of the ceiling," he said.

A tree had fallen onto the roof of his little caravan during the brunt of Cyclone Cook as it hit the city.

"I stuck my head outside, thought it was the other tree, but it was too wet and windy and everything so I just closed the door again."

Cyclone Cook brought with it 63.6mm of rain in Tauranga between 9am and 9pm on Thursday, with a peak rainfall of 22.8mm between 5pm and 6pm. Peak wind gusts reached 87km/h.

Mr Davis was quick to retrieve buckets in an attempt to collect the water that was pouring in.

"I was worried about the electrics. [It] dropped the ceiling down and popped the seals and let the water in, you know what I mean?"

Once the water issue was sorted, Mr Davis decided to worry about in the morning and went back to sleep.

... then all of sudden 'bango'! Everything starting falling down and she started pouring inside...

David Davis

Mr Davis was counting his lucky stars when yesterday's daylight revealed how large the offending tree was, resting atop the white and yellow caravan.

Tauranga firefighters were called to help remove the tree, which was too large to be removed without help from machinery.

There has been some structural damage but Mr Davis said: "Other than that it's not too bad."

Firefighters from Mount Maunganui to Opotiki attended more than 100 weather-related call outs between 6pm and 9.30pm on Thursday.

Tauranga fire senior station officer Mark Keller said they had been busy yesterday with calls of false alarms and a few calls to cut up fallen trees, including another tree which fell and brought down power lines at Te Puna.