Weather: Wellington tornado, torrential rain causes chaos in Lower Hutt

By RNZ

There’s a big clean-up ahead for people in Lower Hutt today after a thunderstorm roared through yesterday afternoon, smashing windows, lifting roofs and uprooting trees.

Hutt South MP Chris Bishop is praising locals who rushed to get children to safety during the ferocious storm.

One police officer Bishop spoke to on Tuesday said “it was like being in The Wizard of Oz”.

“He was driving down, I think he said Margaret Street, and he looked up and at one point there were corrugated iron and trees in the middle of the wind next to him. He said it was like something out of a movie.”

Howling winds and heavy rain pelted the Wellington region about 3pm.

This Lower Hutt property was destroyed by the thunderstorm that hit the region on Tuesday. Photo / Angus Dreaver, RNZ

Bishop said Lower Hutt teachers raced to get students, who were leaving for the day, back inside out of harm’s way.

“I met one teacher who got flung against a tree by the force of the tornado. He told me that a lot of teachers were gathering children up and taking them back inside the classroom.”

Some builders pulled some children walking home into the safety of a shipping container to wait out the storm, Bishop said.

Others Bishop spoke to said “the tornado just went straight through their garage, just literally obliterated their garage”.

Bishop’s electorate office suffered extensive damage.

He was thankful there has been no loss of life, and Lower Hutt will come together to clean up the damage, he said.

“People are doing exactly what you’d expect in times like this - looking after each other and making sure they wrap around each other, which is good.”

A big change was needed as a society to cope with these types of weather events - of which there would be more in the future, he said.

The thunderstorm brought down trees on a property at Kings Crescent, Lower Hutt. Photo / Angus Dreaver, RNZ

MetService meteorologist Paul Ngamanu says the main issue for today will be strong winds in areas including south-east of the South Island, southern Hawke’s Bay, northern Wairarapa and the upper North Island.

Southern Hawke’s Bay could record wind gusts of up to 40km/h, he said.

Commonsense Organics manager Tori Buttle says customers and staff took cover as the shop shook and its front window shattered.

Two children were taken to Hutt Hospital after being injured in the storm, one in a serious condition.

Te Whatu Ora says one was discharged, but the other has been admitted to the children’s ward.

Parts of a mall in the Wellington suburb of Karori flooded during wild weather.

Both Countdown supermarket and Unichem pharmacy were forced to close early.

Hail and thunder rattled Wellington about 3pm on Tuesday, turning streets into rivers and blanketing them with ice. Photo / Katrina Bennett

The pharmacy posted on Facebook that the dispensary ceiling flooded, and there was water damage in its consultation room.

It will open Wednesday morning but people should expect delays getting prescriptions processed because computers were also damaged.

Large industrial fans would dry out the premises all day, it said.

Scary night for Uawa Tolaga Bay

Uawa Civil Defence says the community had a scary night after rain, hail and lightning continued late into the evening.

Tologa Bay Civil Defence area manager Greg Shelton said the rain and hail started around 7pm and lasted until 9pm.

There was impressive lightning that continued untill about 11pm, he said.

As of early Wednesday morning he was not yet aware of any damage or injuries.

The severe thunderstorm warning for Tai Rāwhiti was lifted about 10pm Tuesday.