A camper brushed by a tornado has spoken of how he clambered on top of an overturned motorhome so he could help an injured pensioner inside.
And another has told the Herald how lucky he was to be away from his caravan when it was smashed apart.
Kerrin Mangos, of the Bay of Plenty, was in bed in a caravan admiring the beauty of Northland’s Tauranga Bay this morning when, just after 9am, his wife Jane O’Carroll pointed at an odd weather pattern forming offshore.
“She said, ‘Look how the wind is blowing the water up off the surf’. I said, ‘That is coming our way’.
Sure enough, within 30 seconds, a tornado brushed their caravan before moving on to wreak havoc on parts of the Tauranga Bay Holiday Park.
Mangos had got out of bed, pulling on his shorts and heading for the door of their caravan, when it was shunted about a metre.
He called the force of the twister “freaky” after the caravan was pushed off its stabilisers – equipment designed to stop it from swaying.
Outside, he was confronted with the sight of his 50kg boat being flung by the wind like it weighed nothing.
“And I look out the door, that caravan’s rolling towards that tree,” he said, pointing across the holiday park to a caravan about 30m away smashed against a Norfolk pine.
It had been parked next to where Mangos and O’Carroll were spending the night.
“And that motorhome was already tipped over,” Mangos said, this time pointing to a campervan that was one spot further on.
“Then, of course, you don’t know what the hell to do. I went and checked that old wrecked caravan to see if there was anyone in it.”
Mangos raced over to the smashed-up caravan to check if the owner Philip Wallan was inside. He told the Herald he feared Wallan would not have survived if that had been the case, but then noticed his recent neighbour’s utility van wasn’t at the site.
The absence of the ute meant Wallan was away from the campground so Mangos turned his attention to the overturned motorhome.
Tipped on its side, he clambered up the undercarriage using the exhaust and other fittings to get on top. He then pulled the door open and lowered himself inside.
Inside was chaos with the contents of the campervan strewn throughout. Mangos found an older man, in his 80s, inside the overturned campervan.
“He was moaning about a sore back, so I didn’t want to move him… just put some cushions under his head. There was quite a bit of blood there.”
The older man told Mangos he believed his collarbone was broken. When the volunteer fire brigade arrived and cut the windscreen clear the man was able to get himself out and was taken to hospital.
Wallan, the owner of the caravan destroyed by the presumed tornado, said he was dumbfounded when he returned to find he had a lucky escape.
He said the campground manager Leah Bowsher had telephoned him in tears when he was shopping and doing a job in Kerikeri – his permanent hometown – to let him know what had happened.
“I’m just so grateful I wasn’t here. We wouldn’t be talking,” he said.
Wallan pointed to the Norfolk pine that stopped his caravan from rolling and how – behind it – was another row of caravans.
“I’d say if it wasn’t for that tree, it would have been a lot worse. There would have been more caravans involved.
“I didn’t envision that amount of damage. And when you look at the weight of that – I can’t say for sure, but I think it’s roughly 2.5 tonnes – just to be picked up and thrown around like that… That took a fair bit of wind.
“I’m just grateful that no one was killed.”
Wallan told the Herald he was still trying to absorb what had happened and his fortunate escape. “It’s a lot to take in.” He was clear on one thing, today was the day to buy a Lotto ticket.
Mangos was also left reflecting on what to do after the day’s events. For him, it was the possibility of joining a volunteer fire brigade when he returned home. “It’s quite a good thing to help where you can.”
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