Clean up begins after devastating tornado

Greymouth residents woke this morning to a fine day, perfect to begin rebuilding their homes and lives after yesterday's devastating tornado, with the immediate priority repairing a resthome so 20 elderly residents can return.

The tornado struck at 1pm yesterday in the West Coast town, carving a 400m-wide trail of destruction 4km long, which caused millions of dollars of damage but few injuries.

A state of emergency was not declared but 25 civil defence volunteers from Christchurch came to guard the town overnight from potential looters, Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn told NZPA today. He said there were no problems reported overnight.

"We've woken up to an excellent day here. There's not a cloud in the sky so we can jump into it and get things going."

Mr Kokshoorn said it appeared about 15 homes and up to five businesses had been damaged beyond repair. Another 30 houses were badly damaged.

About 100 elderly residents had to be evacuated from the Kowhai Manor resthome yesterday, but all but 20 returned last night, the remainder being put up in the town's hospital.

Carpenters would be needed to fix the home's roof today.

After that, the immediate priority was the homes of people being housed in hotels.

Mr Kokshoorn said he did not believe finding tradesman would be a problem today but in the longer term a skills shortage would be a problem.

He said a regional economic development trust had contacted him to say it would help with money in the short term.

Mr Kokshoorn said there was no doubt some bad luck stories would come from the tornado and people would need help.

"There's a huge amount of support for people and everybody is just so relieved that no one was killed."

Mr Kokshoorn said carpenters had volunteered their services and people within Greymouth were eager to help each other.

"On the West Coast we've seen our share of tragedies over the years and we know how to react."

In June 2003, about 20 businesses were damaged when a tornado cut a swathe through downtown Greymouth and a tornado hit on March 28, 2001.

"I don't know why this has happened because I've lived here all my life and the tornados have never been a big deal here," Mr Kokshoorn said.

"But just in the last couple of years we had quite a big one and now this one."

There was nothing the town could have been done to be better prepared, he said.

Two people were yesterday admitted to Grey Hospital with moderate injuries and a third person was treated and discharged.

St John's Ambulance treated another three people for minor cuts and bruises.

Timber and roofing iron from buildings ripped apart by the wind were driven into cars and the ground.

Extra police officers were brought in from Nelson to help Greymouth police yesterday, Senior Sergeant Chris Paxon said.

Metservice forecaster John Crouch said the West Coast was New Zealand's tornado "hotspot" because its topography brings a lot of rain and thunderstorms, and strong winds were "turned" by the Southern Alps.

- NZPA