A Patea dairy-farming couple's house, four sheds and fences were left all but annihilated by Saturday's storm.
But Diane and Kevin McColl were philosophical yesterday about the extent of the damage.
Mrs McColl said it was horrendous listening to the roof being torn off and seeing pink bats go flyingthrough the air.
"But when the poles from the back fence came flying into the sides of the house like javelins, and windows were shattering, it was like the world had gone mad."
Then the dozens of huge trees on the couple's 83-hectare dairy farm snapped and fell, which was unbelievable, she said.
Added to that was the damage to four corrugated iron farm sheds. "There's sheets of iron absolutely everywhere."
The couple moved all their furniture into the one part of the house which was relatively unscathed, then worked on how to get power so they could milk their 260 cows, Mrs McColl said.
They managed to track down a generator from a Palmerston North company and their son drove down to Masterton on Saturday afternoon to collect it, she said.
