The tornado bore down hard on the Simpson family's house in Island View.
The tornado bore down hard on the Simpson family's house in Island View.
Chris, Dani and Emma Simpson had only just unpacked their moving boxes when Saturday’s tornado tore the roof off their new home in Island View.
It’s now believed to have been one of three twisters to hit Waihī Beach around 8am, together tearing off five roofs and cutting power to about 2000 homes. There have been no reports of injuries.
The Simpson family had moved into their new digs by the sea just three weeks ago.
The weekend was to be the family’s first relaxing in the new house, and they were looking forward to going to the beach or doing whatever they liked. They have been in the Waihī Beach area for only a year after moving from Hamilton.
One of the waterspouts that formed off Waihī Beach. Photo / Mark Wright
“We had said just the weekend prior how much we love living there,” Dani says.
“On Saturday morning, Emma and I were upstairs talking about how it’s been such a rubbish summer. I looked out the window and thought, ‘What’s all that sand swirling in the air?’”
Chris hollered for the girls to come downstairs, as he was worried the windows would blow out. The three hunkered down for a terrifying 20 seconds.
“The noise was like nothing we have ever heard ... it was like a train was on us. It was horrendous. By the time we went back upstairs, we could see blue sky upstairs and the whole roof was gone.”
Roof debris was strewn across the road and neighbouring properties.
Parts of the roof had been tossed across the road and on to neighbouring properties. Theirs was the home hit worst by the tornado.
The couple were straight on the phone to emergency services and their builders, Oswald Homes, who were there “within minutes”, as well as Mayor View Volunteer Fire Brigade and Katikati Scaffolding.
Work started immediately and the community rallied around with offers for places to stay, food and drink. They are staying close by with friends.
“This community has rallied around us. New friends have showed up with coffee and wine and food. We’ve been offered a dozen places to stay.
“There’s water damage now, but you can replace all that stuff ... what has really bought us to tears is how beautiful this community is.
“We’re so grateful for all their help, and to Greg and his boys and the scaffolder, as well as the Fire and Emergency [New Zealand] teams who kept everyone safe while the power lines were down.”
Mayor View chief fire officer Paul Tucker says not one, but three twisters made landfall at Waihī Beach around 8am on Saturday, with the Simpsons’ roof among five torn off in the area.
He says the first and second tornados arrived together and diverted to different parts — one towards the Dillon St area and the other to Island View. The last one hit Athenree a little after 8am.
Paul says there was massive damage to these houses as well as surrounding houses hit by roof debris. This debris also tore through power lines and power was out at the northern end of the beach.
Mark Wright captures two of the tornados headed for Waihī Beach, the main one to the left and another small one in front of Mayor Island. Photo / Mark Wright
“It was only by the grace of God that no one was hurt,” he says, “and the community was amazing the way they banded together to help these people affected.”
MetService meteorologist Angus Hines says its weather radar could not determine how many tornadoes occurred on Saturday as they were too small to be detected.
“We couldn’t make them out individually on our radar network.”
Looking at videos from Waihī on social media, Hines said there were definitely “multiple vortexes around the area”, but he believes some were waterspouts that did not move over land.
