Two people have been seriously injured after a tornado damaged homes and brought down powerlines in the Northland community of Mangawhai this morning.
In a statement, Fire and Emergency NZ said it was responding to multiple calls following a reported tornado in Mangawhai around 3am today.
Response Coordinator Graeme Quensell said firefighters from several brigades in the area were already at the scene assisting residents and other crews have been dispatched from Waitemata.
“Incidents include roofs lifted from homes, fallen trees and downed powerlines,” he said.
St John said it sent one helicopter, four ambulances, one manager and two rapid response vehicles to the area this morning.
A St John spokesperson said two patients who were both in a serious condition were being taken to hospital.
One patient was taken to Auckland City Hospital by helicopter and the other to North Shore Hospital by ambulance.
Quensell said: “About 16 calls have been received from Mangawhai and one from Langs Beach to the North.”
An Incident Management Team has been established.
He said that people in the area should make safety their first priority and wait until daylight to assess damage to their property.
All power lines should be treated as live, and residents were advised to avoid driving in the area so as not to hold up emergency services.
Power outages
Northpower reported unplanned outages impacting Langs Beach, Waipu and Mangawhai and Mangawhai Heads, which all began shortly before 3am.
Thousands of customers are reported to be impacted.
“We have a widespread outage affecting all of our network due to a TORNADO damaging property and power lines in the wider Mangawhai Area.”
“We are currently assessing the situation and will update the information when we can. Please treat all lines and equipment as LIVE at all times. We apologise for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience,” it said.
Moderate risk of thunderstorms across central, lower north island
MetService duty forecaster Heath Gullery told 1News there was a low risk of thunderstorms in place for the Mangawhai area overnight, and with that “always comes a risk for tornados” and 100km/h winds.
He said a nearby weather station at Tutukaka Harbour recorded gusts up to 107km/h around 3am this morning.
Another nearby station recorded 25mm of rain in the space of an hour, also around 3am.
Gullery said there was currently a moderate risk of thunderstorms across the Coromandel and Bay of Plenty, easing from the west.
There were also small risks of localised small tornados in these same areas.
There are moderate thunderstorm risks across the Central and Lower North Island. Canterbury has high risk of thunderstorms with high risk of downpours and possible large hail.
He said the front has pushed across Auckland and Northland.
