It's winter with a twist

Tornadoes cut a swathe through Auckland yesterday, uprooting trees and lifting roofs off houses while torrential rain flooded properties and roads, and created havoc on Auckland's Southern Motorway.

The chaos was the result of an intense two-hour thunderstorm that hit around 11am, causing flash flooding throughout the city.

Three tornadoes appeared over the eastern suburbs, with a large tornado cutting a path through Ardmore Aerodrome.

Flight instructor Mark Glover said onlooking pilots watched the pouring rain and hail cover the airfield, joking that it looked like snow.

"Then we looked up and there were a whole lot of clouds swirling and we were joking about a twister, and then there was one."

He estimated the tornado was about 500m high from the base of the clouds to the ground, and about 100m in diameter.

The Fire Service also secured a house damaged by the tornadoes in the southeastern suburb of Flatbush. The roof was slightly damaged and windows were broken, but nobody was injured.

Papukura resident Brent Jackson found himself trapped in a shop as the sudden downpour flooded the street outside.

"I was only in there for a minute, it was pelting down with rain. The water rose that fast that it was up to the door in less than a minute. I've never seen it come up so quick in my life."

As the storm moved north across the city, the heavy rain and hail caused flooding in the central Auckland suburbs of Epsom, Greenlane and Remuera, and around Mt Eden Prison and remand centre.

The Fire Service said it had been inundated with calls yesterday afternoon, attending to more than 109 flood-related incidents. They attended to a range of problems, from flooded basements and homes, trees down across roofs and driveways, and fire alarm activations.

Firefighters had to rescue at least three people trapped in cars after they underestimated the depth of some puddles.

Spokesman Steve Smith says the stormwater drains simply could not cope with the heavy downpour.

The storm caused some damage on the North Shore before heading out to sea, said Mr Smith.

Flooding also further problems on parts of the Southern Motorway. It was closed at Mt Wellington while emergency services dealt with a 12-car pile-up.

Two people were seriously injured and taken to Middlemore Hospital. They were both in a stable condition last night.

The MetService says the thunderstorm conditions around Auckland yesterday were consistent with tornado formation.

With bad weather hitting across the country, motorists travelling on State Highway 5 between Napier and Taupo were advised to slow down because of snow and ice.

Meanwhile, weather forecasters said a cold southerly moving up the South Island had brought snow down to 400m on the Central Otago hills and to Queenstown.
- HERALD ON SUNDAY