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The power went off and then Marion Cooksley's mind went blank. The 63-year-old was only seconds from being sucked up into one of the tornadoes which devastated Taranaki this week as it tore the roof off her home.
Home alone on the stormy night, the Oakura resident had been upstairs playing on the computer when the electricity was cut and she decided to walk downstairs in the dark.
Seconds later the handrail came off in her hand.
"That must have been when the top of the house went. I had roof dust in my hair. I'm lucky to be here, so thankful, but I guess my number wasn't up."
Confused and terrified, Cooksley fled to the basement with her pet cockatiel before a neighbour came over and her husband Russell rushed home from bowling.
She did not realise the second storey of the home was gone - and is yet to be found - but more troubling for the Cooksleys is that the family china and photos of their children's weddings are also missing.
The recently retired couple have lived in their McKellar St home for 30 years and are thankful that builders are coming to repair the house tomorrow - unlike 30 other families whose homes were completely destroyed.
Hundreds of locals had turned up to help clear debris scattered across the street yesterday, "a bombsite", Cooksley said, as she tied tarpaulins over damaged property and removed rubbish.
"It's just a pity the tornado hit the house and not the trees at the back of the property which my husband was about to remove."
Next-door neighbour Terri Wickham was dressing up to celebrate her 37th birthday with her sister when the tornado hit.
Also home alone when the power was cut, she walked down the hall to the lounge but could not budge the door as it was sucked shut.
"I could hear the windows smashing, roof iron flapping and trees snapping. There was a strange feeling that the air was sucked out of the atmosphere and it was really noisy."
The whole terrifying situation lasted maybe 30 seconds before Wickham checked the house for damage and found her daughter Darcy's bedroom was "shredded", with a hole in the wall and shattered windows.
Iron cladding had lifted off the roof, leaving a gaping hole, and rafters crashed into the bed where the 6- year-old most probably would have been reading or playing with her dolls at that time of night.
"We were so lucky, I'm so happy the kids weren't home," Wickham said.
Now, the McKellar St neighbours face the daunting task of cleaning up and rebuilding their lives.
They are among the hundreds of tornado-hit Taranaki residents counting the cost of the twisters.
The state of civil emergency was lifted at 10am yesterday after no further damage was reported from the ferocious winds which tore through Taranaki overnight, after at least six tornadoes struck on Thursday.
More tornadoes were reported in Whakatane, Tauranga and Auckland this week. Hundreds of insurance claims have been made and the cost of the clean-up is estimated at $7 million - $2 million in New Plymouth and $5 million in nearby Oakura.
More than 30 homes were so badly damaged that the properties will have to be demolished and rebuilt.
The Taranaki District Council made a kerbside collection of tornado-generated rubbish yesterday, moving quickly to reduce the risk of further damage from wind-blown debris, and power has been restored to most properties.
The weather had "quietened down" MetService meteorologist Oliver Druce said, with a cold south-easterly pushing a ridge of high pressure over New Zealand.
That meant fine, cold and frosty weather for most of the country today but easterly gales would pound Northland and Auckland with a heavy downpour of rain tomorrow and Tuesday. Most of the eastern South Island would be cloudy and cold. The Taranaki Civil Defence emergency welfare number is 0800 779-997.
