Mini-tornado hits Whakatane

A mini-tornado lashed part of Whakatane yesterday.

The storm, which struck just after midday and lasted only a few minutes, left hail lying over many properties in the town.

A Fire Service spokesman said crews spent nearly two hours tidying up damage in the Awatapu and Hinemoa St areas of the town.

One elderly woman said her house started "swirling around" during the storm.

"It was just so dark and loud and frightening, and my mind was a blank. Oh man, I didn't know what to do," the woman, giving her name only as Anne, said.

She lost some tiles off her roof, and a large tree at the corner of her house in Hinemoa Street was smashed below roof level. Some of it ended up in properties across the road.

"I was lucky the storm was from the west," she said. "If it had been the other way, the tree would have come down on the house."

Fire Service officers quickly patched the small area of tile damage at the corner of the roof with polythene sheets.

Neighbour Tania Miller said a manhole cover in her ceiling started "jumping up and down". A piece of someone else's outdoor furniture landed on her deck.

DAILY POST (ROTORUA)