A dangerous tornado caused carnage after ripping through Auckland on Friday, sending trampolines flying through the air and destroying family homes.
Wild wilds and heavy rains began tearing through the city around 11.30pm, uprooting 50 foot pine trees and ripping roofs off houses.
Strong gusts returned early the next morning – with dangerous winds striking East Tamaki about nine hours later on Saturday.
Experts say the event was a less than once a year occurrence for the city, and was deemed to be ‘moderate’ compared to more serious storms were winds are faster than 300km/hour.
A tornado caused carnage after ripping through Auckland (pictured, on Saturday morning), sending trampolines flying through the air and destroying family homes
Dairy Flat and Silverdale in the city’s north were the first to start experiencing the effects of the severe weather event on Friday night.
This is when a number of homes were destroyed, powerlines pulled down and flash flooding began.
One of those was the rental property on Pine Valley road, where Eden Tudman, lived with her father.
The 20-year-old told Stuff she felt the house start to shake before windows began crashing in around her.
She fled down the corridor and into the bathroom before diving into a bathtub for shelter, where she curled into a ball to protect herself.
After ten seconds the house was thrown into darkness.
‘Everything in the house was gone, the roof was gone. Our whole house was just destroyed,’ she said.
An Auckland resident captured footage of a massive dark cloud (pictured) looming over the city
Eden and Daniel Tudman’s rental property on Pine Valley road, at Dairy Flat in Auckland’s north was torn apart during the storm on Friday night (pictured)
The damage was so bad she was became trapped inside the bathroom because the door was jammed.
An emotional Ms Tudman said she was ‘freaking out’.
‘I thought I was going to be locked in there forever,’ she said.
A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to help the family recover some of their destroyed belongings.
Similar scenes took place along Horsehoe Bush road where Bianca Paterson lived with her husband Owen.
The noise of the storm was so loud they thought a plane was crashing.
A wrought iron fence (pictured) was ripped out of the ground and unceremoniously dumped back onto the ground
Tree branches and fences are scattered on the road after the wild storm event (pictured) in Auckland
‘It was insane … I’ve never heard something so loud and scary, Ms Paterson said.
Then the tornado-like event struck Te Atatu, West Auckland and Waimauku.
Hours later, wind gusts from ongoing storms tore the windows off an ambulance on Franklyne Road in Otara where a woman was giving birth inside.
The soon to be mum and two paramedics were unharmed after debris struck the right hand side of the parked vehicle.
But a second ambulance had to be called to pick her up and a tow truck to collect the damaged car.
Hours later, the storm tore the windows off an ambulance where a woman was giving birth inside
The soon to be mum and two paramedics were unharmed after debris struck the right hand side of the parked vehicle
It also dismantled the two-storey shop front of the Elite Bathroomware Showroom on Allens Road in East Tamaki.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand received more than 29 calls about the tornado.
Despite the extent of the damage, weather experts say the weather event wasn’t that severe.
Tornados in New Zealand typically fall onto the enhanced fujita scale as category EFO and EF1, bringing wind speeds of 105-137km/hour and 138-177km/hour respetively.
The most severe twisters which can exceed speeds of 322km/hour are categorised as EF5 events.
Metservice duty forecaster Heath Gullery told the New Zealand Herald this was likely a ‘moderate’ weather event.
‘Most tornadoes in New Zealand are usually F0 with a bit of a rare F1. It’s more than likely it was an F0 or a very weak F1 tornado,’ he said.
It also dismantled the two-storey shop front of the Elite Bathroomware Showroom on Allens Road in East Tamaki (pictured)
Wild wilds and heavy rains began tearing through the city around 11.30pm on Friday night, uprooting 50 foot pine trees and ripping the roofs of houses (pictured)