Dave Collett checks the damage to a rented house on his Hikurangi farm which had its roof blown off in the big storm. Photo / Tania Newman
A couple with a baby who fled in the night from a Hikurangi house lashed by high winds returned later to find the roof of their home had been ripped off in the gale and dropped 100m away.
Forestry worker Kenny Povey, 38, said he woke at 3am on Wednesday
to a lot of noise with the roof manhole flapping and water coming through the ceiling of their rented house high on an east-facing ridge at the end of Gomez Rd.
The battering the building was taking in the storm so alarmed him and his partner they left with their 23-month-old son and spent the night with friends. When he returned at 9am the roof was gone. The wind had peeled it off, lifted it over a line of trees close by the house and dropped it into vegetation down a bank about 100m away.
Pelting rain had saturated all the family's possessions. He and friends put the sodden remains of their furniture, clothes, bedding and baby items in the garage, but he wasn't expecting the television and other electrical goods to work well after the soaking.
"Our stuff isn't insured so it's a major setback," Mr Povey said despondently. He's been off work for six weeks with an elbow injury so the family isn't flush financially.
