Bay counts the cost of storms and tornado

The Bay of Plenty is still counting the cost of damage from Friday's thunderstorms and a tornado that ripped up trees and tore down powerlines.

The deluge caused widespread floods and cut power to thousands of residents and businesses, creating a huge workload for emergency services and utility companies. About 40 homes were still without power yesterday morning.

The Good Friday tornado that started in Kawerau just before 11am left a trail of fallen trees and tangled powerlines before finally hitting Te Puke and exhausting itself.

Some of the worst damage was at Pukehina.

Errol Watts, chief fire officer for the Pukehina station, said a house on State Highway 2, near Rogers Rd, had its double garage roof torn off and hurled 300m onto the property of a neighbour.

Part of the roof of the house was peeled back as a result. "It was a hell of a mess," Mr Watts said. "It pretty much caved the end of the house in."

Tauranga Fire Station senior firefighter Philip Price worked a 24-hour shift after the station was deluged with calls about storm damage in just an hour and a half on Friday morning.

The flood saw every appliance out of the station attending incidents across Tauranga. Powerlines fell across the road near the intersection of State Highway 2 and Wilson Rd at Paengaroa, and more lines went down just south of Te Puke.

Power supply to about 3500 consumers in and around Te Puke was interrupted. About 500 homes, mainly in Te Puke and in the nearby areas of Maketu, Ohinepanea, Otamarakau Valley, Paengaroa, Pongakawa and Pukehina, were still without electricity on Saturday morning.

"In some cases we will be restringing several lines to restore supply to one or two consumers, so it will be time-consuming," said Powerco operations manager Ross Dixon on Saturday.

Suppliers were still working yesterday to restore electricity to about 40 homes in Te Puke and nearby areas. Mt Maunganui firefighters were called to guard a house in Waimapu Rd, Oropi, that was draped in live powerlines after a power pole was ripped out of the ground and toppled over.

As the massive thunder and lightning storm rolled across the Bay, many homes reported lightning strikes. Some took out electronic equipment such as computers and televisions.

- NZPA