Seven homes red-stickered in National Park after tornado

Tornado does serious damage to homes in National Park Village. / Supplied by Louis Van Wyk

Seven properties in National Park Village have been red-stickered after a tornado swept through yesterday morning, meaning they are unsafe to enter.

The twister hit about 6.30am yesterday and destroyed one house in the village, which is near Mt Ruapehu. Several others were also severely damaged with roofs and doors ripped off and windows smashed. One was torn off its foundations and dumped several metres away.

Urban Search and Rescue staff inspected the properties to see if they were structurally sound. They red-stickered seven properties and yellow-stickered another six, which indicates they are risky to enter.

Eleven properties were uninhabitable, Sar said last night. Cordons were put up to stop people entering unsafe buildings.

Ruapehu District Council's building teams were to post notices on restricted buildings today.

Families that had no homes to go to last night were being looked after by friends and family.

A welfare centre had also been set up last night and four households had been rehomed to commercial accommodation.