Man ‘lucky to be alive’ after street light falls metres in front of car in Avondale tornado

An Auckland man says he is lucky to be alive after a street light smashed down just metres from his car as a tornado ripped through.

The incident happened down the road from a building in Avondale that collapsed during the wild weather hitting the Auckland region today.

Auckland remains under a severe thunderstorm watch as forecasters warn that torrential downpours will continue for the rest of the morning.

Blockhouse Bay resident Chaitanya Nerkar said he was returning from dropping his child at kindergarten when he decided to take a video for his wife, showing how bad the weather was.

“I felt like it was kind of a cyclone. I was in the cyclone. You know, you see the rain, you see the wind ... it’s like a completely blurry thing.

The street light slammed down just in front of Chaitanya Nerkar's car. Photo / Chaitanya Nerkar

“The car was vibrating. It’s like the thing you see in the movies.”

He said all of a sudden, a street light slammed down in front of him. It was just metres from crushing his car.

“I was frozen, I saw my life flash before my eyes, I thought I was going to die.”

He was feeling “shaken” after the incident.

At the same time as the street light came down, Fire and Emergency were racing to a nearby commercial premises after reports that it had collapsed.

Assistant commander Dave Hatton said a small tornado blew through Blockhouse Bay, sending debris flying.

A building was severely damaged in Avondale this morning as a result of the storm. Photo / Hayden Woodward

A spokesman said Fire and Emergency crews were called at 9.30am after reports that the single-storey building had partially collapsed.

Two ladder trucks, a hazmat command unit and rescuers were sent to look inside the building.

The spokesman said it was unclear whether anyone was inside at the time it collapsed, but there were no reports of injuries.

There was some difficulty getting to the scene as power lines blocked many of the roads.

Hatton said crews at the nearby Avondale fire station heard a “bang” and went to the scene without being called out.

Auckland remains under a severe thunderstorm watch until 1pm today, with further warnings that torrential rain may cause “extremely hazardous” driving conditions.

Many residents were reporting on social media seeing a “mini tornado” in the Avondale area, but MetService could not confirm the reports.

However, MetService meteorologist Devlin Lynden said 77km/h gusts had blown through the area about 9am.

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