Taranaki starts tornado clean-up

Debris from the tornado on Lemon St, New Plymouth. Photo / Christine Cornege

Firefighters have been working flat out in New Plymouth today assessing the damage after two tornadoes tore through the city early this morning.

A team of 36 firefighters assessed the extent of the twisters' destruction throughout the day. Crews from New Plymouth were joined by volunteer fire crews from Inglewood, Oakura and Waitara.

"We've been dealing with tiles lifting off roofs, leaking buildings and windows which have blown in," said Maurice Kemsley, senior station officer at New Plymouth fire station.

"The main focus has been to make them weather-tight again for tonight until property and business owners can get builders and roofers in tomorrow to start the repair job, which for some of them could take some time," he said.

Fire crews have also been putting tarpaulins - supplied by Taranaki Emergency Management (Civil Defence) - on damaged buildings.

The damage has been confined to two narrow strips at Bell Block and in the central city, Mr Kemsley said.

Fire crews assessed the damage in Bell Block at a rest home and a house, where windows had blown in and the roof had lifted.

There was also extensive damage over a 2km area from Gill St in the central city through Ridge Lane to the racecourse as far as Highlands Intermediate School on Coronation Avenue.

"There's been some severe damage at commercial buildings in town and the damage also went out into the suburbs," Mr Kemsley said.

"Some houses have lost roofs and business owners have lost roofs and found roller doors bent and buckled.

"It was raining this morning up until about 11am but the weather has been kind to us this afternoon and things have settled down thankfully," Mr Kemsley said.

"It's fortunate that nobody was hurt. Luckily it happened at 4.30am so everyone was asleep at home," he said.

At least 15 businesses and several homes have been damaged, and business owners were counting the cost of the repairs.

Mico Plumbing Supplies assistant manager Daniel Johanson told NZPA the Molesworth Street store's showroom had been completely destroyed.

"The roller doors have collapsed in and there's substantial damage."

"The roof's had it as well. We're trying to make the building secure so nobody can get into it. We've just got to wait for the insurance assessors to have a look at it," Mr Johanson said.

Radiator repair shop Arthur and Low, also in Molesworth St, was badly damaged.

"Three quarters of the building is damaged. One part of the workshop roof is completely gone. The door was blown through in our main workshop, and the roller door was blown back about 12 metres. It's just major," said a worker, who did not want to be named.

"We're just trying to get it boarded off this morning. We've got to empty out one side of the workshop because it's just a shell, so we've moving everything across to the middle workshop.

"It was a brand new roof, and over half is completely off. We seem to be the worst hit in the street."

She said it was too early to say what the cost of the damage could be.

Power was also out in the city around Leach St, Lemon St and parts of Coronation Avenue.

- NZPA