Tornado rips into the North

Damage to roof tiles on a Pukepoto Road home after the tornado swept through Kaitaia. Photo / John McLuckie

Are you in Kaitaia?
Send us your photos and videos of the damage.

Twenty homes and a hospital were damaged when a tornado ripped through the Far North yesterday afternoon.

Residents were evacuated as the twister made landfall at Ninety Mile Beach and left a trail of destruction as it headed south east through Kaitaia.

"It was like a war zone," said Kaitaia volunteer fire chief Colin Kitchen. "There were trees down everywhere, a car got crushed by a tree. One person saw a large picnic table flying through the air and another saw a trampoline.

"Most of the damage was tiles and roofs off."

The tornado hit Kaitaia about 12.40pm, sweeping across Pukepoto Rd, Worth St and Redan Rd.

Four houses on Pukepoto Rd were so badly damaged residents could not go home last night. They were put up in motels.

Kaitaia Hospital was also damaged. The roof lifted off the boiler room and part of the administration building.

Nurse Katrina Tonks was on her last shift at the accident and medical department when the tornado hit.

"A deafening roar started to come through. As I was standing there the ceiling tiles started to shift. The walls were shaking from the suction of the tornado lifting the roof," she said.

"Everyone just froze to start with, we weren't sure what was happening. Then everyone started ducking for cover and running to the walls.

"The children in the waiting room were screaming."

Kitchen said 40 firefighters from Kaitaia, Apihara, Mangonui and Kerikeri worked to protect damaged homes with salvage sheets and tarpaulins.

Police, St John, Civil Defence, Housing NZ and Victim Support staff also helped.

While no one was injured, a heavily pregnant woman was taken to hospital as a precaution and later discharged.

Pukepoto Rd resident Tracey Coetzee couldn't believe how fast the tornado moved across her back lawn.

"Leaves were flying everywhere. We have a really old tin garden shed and the roof was lifting up and down like a balloon. Then the spiral went up through the neighbours' place and that was it. It was so fast you couldn't do anything."

Patricia Witty saw "something big like a picnic table or trampoline" fly past her house 20m off the ground.

"We could hear a terrific roar as the wind came across the flats at Ninety Mile Beach. Then the roar came through the empty section next door and there was a lot of stuff flying around in the sky," she said.

"There was tiles, corrugated iron, down-piping, guttering and broken windows. It was quite scary, then it hopped over to Worth St and then again to the hospital."

Bob Dunn was visiting relatives on Worth St when he heard the tornado roaring down the street "like a jet plane".

"It was pretty huge."

A thunderstorm outlook issued by Metservice at 12.30pm yesterday gave a high risk of thunderstorms for Northland and Auckland, with a "slight risk of a small tornado or waterspout".

MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt said Kaitaia was too far north for the tornado to appear on the radar.

"We can't see them all, but the ones we can see, we tell you about."

Weatherwatch head weather analyst Phil Duncan said almost 1250 lightning strikes were recorded between East Cape and Northland between 3pm and 4pm.

Today, Northland, Auckland and Coromandel residents can expect frequent showers, some heavy, with isolated squally thunderstorms and hail.