Paraparaumu tornado: Teen Rhiley Stevens recovering well from surgery

A Kāpiti teenager impaled by a piece of his own bedroom when a tornado destroyed his sleepout is doing well after surgery, his mother says.

Rhiley Stevens, 16, was asleep in the cabin in his family’s yard in Paraparaumu on Tuesday when a tornado ripped through the area, lifting the sleepout into the air and dumping it back down with Rhiley inside.

A piece of the sleepout became lodged in Rhiley’s chest, causing him to suffer a collapsed lung.

Mother Jade Stevens today told the Herald her son was in good spirits following his surgery on Tuesday, and was doing well after having his chest drain removed last night.

If medical staff can get Rhiley’s pain under control he may be able to go home tomorrow or at the weekend, she said.

In the meantime, the teen has picked up a new nickname in the hospital.

“One of the nurses that came in called him the tornado kid,” Stevens laughed.

“I said we should make T-shirts.”

Rhiley had “kept his sense of humour” despite the painful experience and was looking forward to getting home. His friends will be visiting him in hospital today, she said.

He certainly had a wild story to tell them. Rhiley told his mother the tornado “felt like an earthquake”.

There was “intense shaking” before the worst hit. “He literally remembers being thrown across the room.”

Stevens said it still felt “surreal” for her.

“You just never expect it to happen . . . I’m just so grateful that A: he’s alright, and B: it wasn’t worse, and C: that my other son wasn’t sleeping in the other cabin beside him.”

Rhiley Stevens, 16, was in his Paraparaumu sleepout when a tornado ripped through. Photo / Supplied

At the time the tornado hit about 5.30am, Stevens had heard the wind tearing through the property and grabbed her 12-year-old, Cooper. It was then that Rhiley appeared at the back door.

“It was so dark, but there was just blood pouring out of him,” she said.

“Cooper grabbed the first aid kit and we ran into the bathroom where my partner and I stemmed the blood while we waited for the ambulance.”

Stevens was full of praise for ambulance and medical staff who had helped them, and also wanted to express her gratitude to everyone who had supported them from family and friends to strangers.

The sleepout has been destroyed and they will be working to rebuild it.

At least 20 properties were reported to have been damaged in Paraparaumu with roofs blown off or lifted, and one house being lifted off its piles.

The destructive twister first hit in Nikau Valley at 5.30am, touching down six or seven times before making its way out to sea.