Tornado: 'The trampoline has just been crumbled up'

Paul Dunn with his damaged trampoline. Photo / Paul Harper

All along Waimarie Road - one of the worst struck streets in yesterday's tornadoes - the stories are the same.

"We had a lot of mature fruit trees and most of them are gone - just ripped out of the ground and branches have been torn straight off," resident Paul Dunn says.

"The trampoline has walked 15-20 metres and has just been crumbled up ... It's just been shredded."

A part of another trampoline has also made its way into the Dunn's backyard, about 50-60 metres away from where a damaged trampoline lies crumbled on another street.

His wife, Kate, was at home with three children at the time of the storm.

"It was quite a scary experience," she says.

"My sons were not too bad ... but my daughter was terrified.

"We huddled in the hallway, I just tried to calm her down.

"We didn't know it was a tornado at the time, we just thought it was really windy, the roof was shaking.

"And then it stopped. The wind just stopped."

Mrs Dunn said the mayhem only lasted a few minutes.

"We went out outside and that's when we realised there had been a tornado ... our yard is just destroyed. Our house is relatively unscathed, but our yard is destroyed."

The pair were impressed with the response from authorities, but are now preparing themselves for a few days without power.

Like others on their street, they say the storm is a reminder of the need to be prepared for when natural disasters occur.

- nzherald.co.nz