Tornado tears through East Tamaki buildings

Damage to Elite Bathroomware in East Tamaki. Photo / Hayden Woodward

Wild weather is striking at Auckland after fierce winds described as a tornado by onlookers have ripped a roof of a bathroom store and caused widespread damage across South Auckland.

It came after tornadoes also struck north and west of the city yesterday.

Videos posted to Facebook this morning showed an entire wall torn off the Elite Bathroomware Showroom on Allens Rd in East Tamaki.

Damage to Elite Bathroomware in East Tamaki. Photo / Hayden Woodward

Metal sheeting and wood could be seen strewn across the carpark in the incredible footage together with what looked like computers and office equipment.

A woman giving birth in an ambulance was also caught up in the wild storm.

The ambulance had been parked in Franklyne Rd in Otara when the tornado came through and struck a shed, Fire and Emergency shift manager Craig Dally said.

The shed was then flung against the ambulance, breaking its windows.

St John's Richard Gray confirmed the right side of the ambulance had been damaged by debris from the tornado about 9am today.

"Two ambulance officers were attending to a patient, who was in the vehicle at the time," Gray said.

"The ambulance officers were unharmed, and the patient's condition did not change."

The woman was then to Middlemore Hospital in another ambulance, in a moderate condition.

The ambulance has been taken off the road for repairs.

Firefighters helped out by making the area safe and clearing debris.

A trampoline has bounced to a stop in front Victoria Dairy on Carruth Rd in Papatoetoe. Photo / Emma Lunny

Dally said 10 fire trucks were sent to East Tamaki to assess damage in the area around Elite Bathroomware.

They received reports of major structural damage to other industrial buildings also, he said.

A few roofs had been ripped off houses and so crews were going through the area, assessing the damage and assisting the public.

There were no reports of injuries.

Phillip Boughey was enjoying his morning at home when he opened his curtains and saw the tornado about 1km away.

He grabbed his iPad and raced off to film it.

Damage done to a home on Mayburn Rd in Te Atatu overnight. Photo / Supplied

From a distance, he could see the tornado picking up and tossing debris.

Once he got to the scene, on Allens Rd, several buildings had been damaged.

People were inside Elite Bathroomware when the tornado hit, he said.

"They've got quite a few staff in now and electricians making sure the wires are safe," he said.

The Electric Motor Group-Brooks MTL Electric Motors building next door had also been damaged.

"There are parts of roofs sitting entangled in fences," Boughey said.

Trees had been brought down and buildings damaged about 500m away in Arwin Place also, he said.

A former manager of Brooks MTL said the industrial store had about $2.5 million of electric motor stock in the building when it was hit by the tornado.

The storm had caused extensive damage to the building's roof with pressure inside the building blowing out its skylight and roof panels.

Electric Motor Group-Brooks MTL had about $2.5 million of stock inside its building when it was hit by a tornado that did extensive damage to its roof. Photo / Supplied

Elsewhere, witnesses also reported seeing trampolines flung on top of power poles.

One trampoline could be sent wind-bent and slammed into a power pole out the front of Victoria Dairy in Papatoetoe.

Fire and Emergency's Dally said another tornado also hit a small area of Papamoa Beach in Tauranga.

Fire and Emergency received about ten calls to houses with roofs lifting or tiles blown off.

'Terrifying tornado': North and West Auckland hit overnight

This morning's tornadoes came after some residents were terrified overnight.

Wind and rain caused flooding, lifted roofs and uprooted trees across North and West Auckland.

Tornado damage at Elite Bathroomware in East Tamaki. Photo / Phillip Boughey

Elsewhere, the fierce winds led Dairy Flat residents in the city's north to take to Facebook with reports of a tornado ripping through the area.

"That must have been a tornado. It sounded incredibly loud as it rushed past our place," one Facebook user wrote.

A resident from Pine Valley said it was the "loudest thing I ever heard" as their home was "hit full-on".

"Our fences got shredded, my car's been bashed in, the walls of our garage are gone, we have multiple big trees down on our drive and we can't leave.

"I love a storm but that was *** terrifying," another resident wrote.

Fire and Emergency NZ's Craig Dally said crews raced about the city responding to 24 calls for help in north and west Auckland from about 10pm last night.

Silverdale and Dairy Flat in north-west Auckland were hit first.

Then the heavy winds moved to Te Atatu, West Auckland and Waimauku.

"There was flooding, roofs lifting and trees and power lines down," Dally said.

Clean up operations at Elite Bathroomware in East Tamaki. Photo / Hayden Woodward

Power supplier Vector said bad weather caused several outages around Dairy Flats, Port Albert and Silverdale.

It said debris and vegetation were blown into the lines, knocking them down.

"Crews were prepared and in place to respond quickly, which meant there was minimal impact on customers, with most outages restored overnight," it said.

"Some outages required further repair in daylight, and crews are already on site working to restore these."

Wild Saturday ahead

Weather forecaster MetService, however, warned the gloomy weather would likely stick around all day.

Auckland could expect heavy rain and possible thunder at times through to tonight along with a high of 18C.

Sunday should then clear to fine spells and isolated showers with a top of 16C.

Northland and Whangarei, Tauranga and Hamilton and Rotorua in the south could all expect to be affected by the same weather system with heavy rain and thunder possible all day Saturday.

Further south Wellington could expect milder winter weather with a few showers and cloudy top of 16C.

Christchurch in the South Island was set for a cloudy weekend and top of 13C today.

Invercargill in the far south, meanwhile, was set for a mostly fine day heading for a top of 10C with Queenstown expecting clouds, but no rain, and a high of 11C.

Forecaster WeatherWatch said yesterday and today's rain were part of June being a "game-changing" month "with a return to normal rainfall, even above-normal rainfall in parts of the dry North Island".

"WeatherWatch continues to forecast optimism for the rural community and for Auckland's water storage dams - but we're not totally out of the woods," it said.

"The rainfall deficit over the past 18 months is significant, even if surface soil moisture levels are now fixed much more rain is still needed in the months ahead - and that super long-range forecast is not yet locked in."

WeatherWatch also tipped cold change to hit the South Island this weekend and North Island next week that would bring snow dumps at higher altitudes to both islands.