Tornado hits Kaiwaka home (+ video)

Flashes of lightning followed by a roar like a jet engine were the only warning before a tornado ripped the roof of a Northland home and left the owner and her dog terrified inside.
The trail of destruction was evident at Jackie Winters' Kaiwaka home today with insulation batts and mangled corrugated roofing flung across the garden.
A five-metre swath of damaged trees and vegetation beside the house bore all the hallmarks of a tornado.
Ms Winters was woken by her trusty canine companion 10-year-old Huntaway Shepherd cross Luke, about 1am, after he abandoned his normal sleeping posey on an armchair and sought refuge under his master's bed.
"I'm lucky Luke warned me. He was under the bed banging around. I looked to the north and could see flashes on the horizon and then there was a horrendous noise, like a DC10 jet plane," Ms Winters said.
"I could see the post holding up the veranda bouncing up and down and the window was breathing. I thought shit this is scary something terrible is going to happen and it did."
She said there was a loud 'bang' and half the roof peeled off in the wind.
Power to the house was out immediately as the wires were ripped out of the meter box.
Ms Winters, who is a part time farmer and postie in Wellsford, rang a friend who is in the Kaiwaka Volunteer Fire Brigade.
He answered her call for help and the brigade moved furniture from the damaged side of the house to the undamaged side, where it was protected from the rain.
Tarpaulins covered the gaping hole left in the roof.
Surveying the damage to her home where she has lived for more than 10 years as the wind continued to gust through the rural property Ms Winter's was thankful for the support the community had given her.
"Everyone has been so good to me. The fire fighters have been fantastic ... they're help has blown me away," she said - the experience not enough to dampen her sense of humour.
A neighbour has offered a shearers cottage as accommodation while repairs are done to the house.
Read more in tomorrow's Northern Advocate.
Let us know if you have experienced some crazy weather over the last few weeks and send us your pics reporters@northernadvocate.co.nz