A mighty wind hits Pukenui

One of the first victims of Thursday morning's tornado at Pukenui was this boat in Fitzgerald Rd. Photo / Peter Jackson

The MetService had predicted that tornadoes were possible on Thursday, and any doubting Thomases at Pukenui became firm believers at around 9.30am.

Fitzgerald Rd resident Petrina Wagener was feeding her six-week-old baby at a window in her home when she heard thunder, it became "really dark" - and then the wind struck.

She was worried about her palm trees, she said, but her immediate fear was that the windows would blow in, so she, her baby and her three-year-old retreated to the centre of the house.

There was no damage, she said, but a launch was blown off its blocks across the road, and the unoccupied house next door to that lost the western half of its roof.

"I've never heard anything like it," she said.

"It was really quite scary."

It didn't last long, however, and the violent wind was immediately followed by calm.

The tornado appeared to have travelled from Fitzgerald Rd towards the Houhora Big Game and Sports Fishing Club, on the harbour front, damaging trees and sending a trampoline flying along the way. It took a corner off Jodie and Herb Adams' roof on the main road, then crossed the highway and badly damaged a large shed.

Darren Axe said he had been selling coffee from his mobile shop in the fishing club car park, just metres from the shed, when it arrived.

"I've lived here for 30 years and I've never seen anything like it," he said.

It began with very heavy rain, and then 20 seconds of extraordinary wind.

The tornado missed Axe by metres, but even on the edges the wind did a very good job of rearranging his chairs, rubbish bin and chilly bin.

The tornado next appeared to have touched down on Houhora Heads Rd, where it toppled a number of trees, several of which blocked the driveway at the Adams' second property.

There were no reports of injuries.