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A short-lived but violent tornado shredded trees, downed power poles and ripped across forests famland in Hawke's Bay in the early hours of this morning.
The twister that lasted about 10 minutes slammed into Te Haroto and Tarawera, about 60km north west of Napier, just after 3.30am.
It snapped the tops off mature pine trees and uprooted others. It also felled at least four power poles - dropping power lines across State Highway 5 and cutting power to about 100 homes, Hawke's Bay Today reported.
Resident Mandy Baker said she and her husband, who had lived in the Te Haroto region for many years, had never seen anything like it before.
"And we don't want to see it again."
A MetService spokesman said tornadoes were fluky and rare in New Zealand, and were impossible to accurately predict.
They were a combination of factors driven by unstable weather conditions, with cold unstable air hitting warm air, and were more likely to emerge during thunderstorms.
There had been driving rain and strong winds in the Tarawera region throughout the night.
"Now it's all calm here," Mrs Baker said. "Just need to get it all cleaned up."
- NZPA
