Man in hospital, caravan destroyed after reported tornado in Northland

By Peter de Graaf of RNZ

A man who rescued someone trapped after what has been described as a tornado in Northland says it’s lucky no one died.

Garth Richter said his wife alerted him to a caravan rolling through the Tauranga Bay Holiday Park.

“I said ‘twister’, and I jumped up and told her to get out of the caravan as quickly as possible,” he said.

“I came out and saw a totally squashed caravan, so I ran to that ... I would have thought that whoever was in it would be dead.”

After Richter established the destroyed caravan had been unoccupied, he saw a nearby campervan had tipped over with someone still inside.

“I shouted to him, and he answered me, but said he was hurt,” he said.

“I pulled the skylight off that was next to him, which he wasn’t really happy about, but I assured him that was the least of his problems and just propped him up and helped him.

“He thinks he’s broken his shoulder blade and his back.”

Bystanders called emergency services to the scene, who cut the front window of the motorhome to rescue the man, aged in his 80s, before he was taken to hospital.

Richter said it was fortunate the situation was not worse.

Richter said if the other caravan had not been stopped by a tree it would have “cartwheeled through the whole camp”.

An elderly man was injured after a motorhome and caravans were damaged in a reported tornado in Northland. Photo / RNZ / Peter de Graaf

There had been damage to others in the campsite, he said.

“Most people have got a bit of damage, but it’s superficial, windows and through the sides, and a lot of stuff lying all over the place.”

His own caravan had also been superficially damaged, he said.

Campers Kerrin and Jane Mangos say the wind was so strong it felt like an earthquake was shaking their caravan. Photo / RNZ / Peter de Graaf

Other campers said the wind hitting their caravan was like an earthquake.

Campers Kerrin and Jane Mangos said they saw the wind whipping the breakers this morning.

Jane Mangos said they watched as a caravan flew past them.

“We’ve been in an earthquake in the caravan before and that’s what it reminded me of,” she said.

“It was rocking so violently, I thought, ‘oh, s***, is it an earthquake as well?’”

Kerrin Mangos said what happened made them realise how vulnerable they were against nature.

“Like little ants getting thrown around,” he said.

“We don’t have much time to make a decision, it’s all happening so quick, so fast.”

MetService said intense rain and thunderstorms in the area meant there was the potential for tornadoes.

But a spokesperson could not say whether one had occurred.

However, wind gusts of up to 75km/h had been recorded in the Kaeo area.

– RNZ