Rob Terry, co-owner of Snapper's Golf Driving Range, checks out the progress as roofers repair damage to his golf driving bay. Photo / supplied
Wild weather has continued to batter the Bay of Plenty region with high winds flipping a plane on the runway at Tauranga Airport and a local girls' college experiencing a mini-tornado.
There were reports emergency services were called to the scene at around 12.45pm after reports the plane had overturned while taxiing.
The two occupants of the plane were out of the aircraft and uninjured.
Tauranga Girls' College students experienced a "mini tornado"' in wild weather conditions this afternoon.
Principal Pauline Cowens said there were very strong winds that came over the school and lasted about five minutes.
Mrs Cowens said the school sail shades were damaged and branches had fallen.Table umbrellas and outdoor furniture were scattered throughout the staff outdoor area.
"I don't know if you would call it a tornado but it was enough to bend poles in the courtyard," said Mrs Cowen.
"I was surprised with how quick it was. It came through the front of the school and then it was gone," said Mrs Cowens.
Shrink wrap around the hall was also blown onto the school grounds.
Mrs Cowens said students were told to to stay indoors for 20 minutes before heading outside.
"I didn't want to alarm anybody but it was just interesting," said Mrs Cowens.
Last night tornadoes smashed through Mt Maunganui, damaging homes, ripping roofs from buildings and sending trampolines and outdoor furniture flying.
ASB Baypark Stadium also lost parts of its grandstand roof.
Mt Maunganui Intermediate suffered substantial damage, principal Lisa Morresey posted on the school's website late last night. One neighbour said the school's new astroturf had been ripped up. Ms Morresey said the school would be closed today "as there are health and safety hazards".
The tornadoes roared through about 8.45pm. Emergency services were called to the Waitui Park area after multiple callers reported damage to their properties around Lodge Ave and Links Ave.
The path of the tornado has turned into more of a tourist attraction this morning as continuous waves of cars drive up and down the affected areas, including Waitui Grove, Golf Rd, Lodge Ave, Ascot Rd and Links Ave.
All motorists brake as they head past an affected property, having a quick peak at the damage, while local tradesmen and emergency services staff repair or tidy up the damage.
The weather has been fine for locals, however the rain began settling in again about 11.30am.
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Lodge Ave resident Lane Wright watched on as fire crews cut apart the mangled remains of his roof, which had been blown on to a driveway metres from his home.
Mr Wright said that through the torrential rain he heard "a big gust of wind, then a couple of cracks and I just grabbed the kids".
He and his twins Jordan and Brooke, 3, and daughter Lara, 4, escaped unharmed as their roof was ripped off.
"I just knew it was gone but I was more worried about the kids than anything."
When he ran out on to the street, he found a mess: a trampoline was wrapped around a lightpole and the road was covered in debris. Mr Wright, whose house is insured, planned to stay with relatives.
Mt Maunganui residents Jon and Bev Mayson spent the night at their neighbour's house after the tornado ripped the roof off their two-storey wooden Waitui Grove home about 8.45pm.
Mr Mayson was just about to settle in and watch some television when there was a "bang like a clap of thunder".
"That took all of 10 seconds and the roof was in the next door neighbour's backyard."
Image 1 of 7: Emergency services personnel clear up damage to ASB Baypark after a tornado passed through Mt Maunganui. Photo / Alan Gibson
The rain was torrential at the time, but he was thankful that the fire brigade were there in minutes to help secure the house.
The couple was this morning drying out their belongings from the three bedrooms and one bathroom.
Outside, pink batts lay scattered amongst the bush, while Mr Mayson's much-loved pohutukawa tree took a bit of the brunt of the tornado's tail.
Mr Mayson said despite the event, he was just thankful that he and his wife were not injured.
"We're just grateful that we're ok, we're alive, all of this is repairable ... Everyday we wake up is a good one."
Other residents described the motion of an earthquake and the sound "of a freight train".
Erika Mitchell said the tornado "bellowed through" her property, knocking down a 4m-5m section of a wooden trellis fence and ripping out her letterbox.
"I dropped to my knees - it felt like the roof was going to lift off," she said.
Pauline Cox saw two tornadoes and told the Herald it was "pretty scary".
"I heard the wind. I remember that wind from a tornado we had here years ago -- it ripped our pool out and you could see the outdoor chairs jumping up and down.
"That's the wind I heard. I went outside to have a look and I could hear all the tin being ripped off ... It was so loud."
Alicia Gestro was watching TV with her 13-year-old son when the ranchslider started to shake violently. She got up and pulled the curtains just as the tornado swept through her yard.
"It was like a big vibration. It was really loud and quite horrendous.
"We just sat there and looked at each other and said, 'Was that a tornado?' I looked out and the outside table had been flipped and smashed, the BBQ that was on the deck was almost in the house and the back fence was completely gone. The weather has gone crazy, it's nuts. My husband was driving home from the gym and he saw aerials all over the roads."
Resident Greg Anderson was watching TV when he heard a heavy bang, before the glass in his ranchslider broke.
"I opened up the blinds and saw the rest of the devastation - our car port has been pushed into our house and there's a part of someone else's roof through ours."
He estimated it took between 10 and 20 seconds to blow through.
Across the street, Alan Ruddell was shaken by "a hell of a noise - it was like a train coming through, it really was a thundery noise."
His home escaped damage but a tall tree, just metres away, could be seen lurching precariously with broken limbs.
Another neighbour, Robert Gillespie, said the sound of the twister itself was drowned out by the thunderous downpour.
"Then the ground shook, and the house just went round and round in a circular motion, just like an earthquake."
Links Ave resident Adelle Fleming said a 3m by 5m garden shed had landed on her fence.
"It's been absolutely trashed. It's a mess. It's caved in my fence and I can't get out of my driveway. My neighbours across the road - one of the streetlights has landed on their roof. My next-door neighbour has lost some of her roof and their windows were smashed in."
There were bits of corrugated iron strewn across her yard and a metal deck umbrella-holder had landed on her deck.
"I was reading a story to my daughter in bed. I just heard a massive gust and I could feel it on the back of my neck because the window's right there.
"I thought the window was going to break and the roof felt like it was going to lift off. Then the power went off. It was within a matter of 20 seconds. It's scary for the kids."
Also on Links Ave, Murphyne Rawiri, 29, can't get over the sight of seeing broken glass chasing her partner, Jonathon Gear and nephew Mikaere Rawiri, 16, down her hallway.
She was in her bedroom when she heard a rattling and whirring noise.
"It was getting louder and louder and I was like 'holy f***' so I shot up out of my bed and I went to pull [window] in and it was like someone was holding it open, so I grabbed both handles and slammed it in and by the time I turned around I just heard 'smash, bang bang' and by the time I got to the door and that's when I saw my partner and my nephew bolting it [from the lounge] and the glass following them, then it just dropped."
The trio spent the night down the road at Miss Rawiri's mothers, frightened after the experience.
This morning, family and friends were rallying around collecting up her belongings and moving them to storage.
Although disappointed about losing her rental property, she's just glad they got out alive.
However none of them had insurance.
"But I'm definitely going to get it now... It was out of it, it was freaky, I'm still a bit shaken about the whole thing."
For Ascot Grove resident Kelly Hayward, as soon as she realised what had happened, she ran straight to the bedrooms of her and husband, Simon's, sleeping daughters Peppah, 4, and Olive, 2.
"But they'd slept right through it," she laughed.
![Simon and Kelly Hayward [middle] with Mrs Hayward's sister, Raewyn Brandon, and the couple's daughter, Peppah, stand in front of their flattened fence. Photo / Supplied](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/ZYMLZ23I3YYH6P5KD3B6YWRFMU.jpg?auth=83ce50b1f348e89c88db3affb45e9394894851b0f75717ac5a85c2f1930fb9dc&width=16&height=12&quality=70&smart=true)
However, despite the roaring noise which she described as being like a jet engine, it wasn't until the power went out that she realised the seriousness of what they'd escaped.
"I was just doing some work at the table and there must have been some light rain and about 30 seconds later it started getting louder and you don't realise what it is and then eventually I was like 'this is not normal'."
After checking the kids she looked outside and saw all her neighbours walking out on to the street.
As some knew she was home alone, they checked she was okay, with one bearing gifts; a packet of two minute noodles, condensed milk and candles.
She was heartened by the gestures, she said.
She also noticed their caravan had been sucked closer to their fence and over turned by the tornado, which also flattened sections of the fence surrounding their property.
Mrs Hayward said she was just thankful that her sister, Raewyn Brandon, who normally slept in the caravan had decided to go out and not have a planned night in watching movies.
The caravan was eventually righted, but was now a write off.
Their house was untouched, apart from a corner of a window at the front of their house.
Mr Hayward said he wasn't too bothered about the fence as he was planning to do a bit of DIY soon anyway.
Several other houses in the street had also suffered damage mainly including broken fences, smashed windows and uprooted trees.
Manganui Rd resident Karen Tapper didn't even have to be asked what she was doing when the tornado struck.
"I was sitting on the toilet then suddenly there was this massive noise and the wind, it was sucking the curtains in and out, in and out, and then it sucked all the windows in, slammed all the windows in the house ... but I just sat there, 'oh my god, what's this?' and by the time it took me that long to think about it, it was gone."
Emerging from the bathroom, the power was out so she scrambled amongst the leaves and debris to find candles and a torch.
Her neighbour, Joss Albert, raced over and checked on her and said the tiles from her roof were splayed on the shared driveway.
She was unsure if she was still in shock as that news didn't sink in until an hour hour later when she went outside.
Back inside, the water started dripping through the light fitting in her bedroom which she traced back to the man hole in the garage.
Ms Tapper said she'll never forget the incident as she sat in disbelief watching her bathroom mats get lifted off the floor.
She had to take a sleeping pill to get any rest as she knew she'd be up all night worrying about the leak in the garage, and above her head in her bedroom.
But she won't forget the sound of the tornado, which at the beginning she thought was just the loud surf.
"You wouldn't believe it if you hadn't lived it. I will never forget the sound ... I thought to myself when I went into the bathroom, 'gosh the sea is loud' and I had just sat down when I thought 'hang on, no, that's not the sea at all."
Ms Tapper's neighbour, Joss Albert, 57, lost about four roof tiles in the carnage that surrounded him.
But he was more worried about his Housing NZ neighbour's who mostly lived alone.
"I just made sure all the neighbours were ok...you gotta look after the neighbours."
However, the tornado appeared to have touched down on the unit opposite his as a large portion of tiles had been picked off.
The house had suffered serious water damage and the female occupant had found other accommodation, he said.
Mr Albert said he had a bit of debris in his backyard, however he can still picture the sight of his neighbour's trampoline embedded in a large tree at the neighbouring Tauranga City United AFC/Links Ave Reserve.
At Snapper's Golf Driving Range, just off Manganui Rd, co-owner Rob Terry is wondering when he can open for business again.
"We maybe able to get onto that next week, maybe, that's a tricky one."
The large nets - in place to save the balls - are all ripped with massive holes, while the roof off the golf driving bay ended up about 300m down Owens Pl.
The tornado's path could be easily seen as it stretched between the reserve and the Omanu Golf Course across the road with several trees uprooted and branches broken.
Police and the Fire Service were inundated with calls and officers knocked on doors and spoke to people in the streets making sure everyone was OK.
WeatherWatch.co.nz said the rain radar at the time the tornadoes hit showed "an intense area of rain brushing the coastline".
Metservice severe weather forecaster Erick Brenstrum said they had not picked up any tornado activity in that area last night, but he was "not surprised" to hear the reports.
"The sort of weather system that's continuing to cross the area is the sort that is conducive to squally rain showers, some of which may have small tornadoes."
Tauranga City Council chief executive Garry Poole said a full assessment of the Baypark Stadium damage would be done today.
Baypark Stadium was still operating, with basketball on tonight and the Otumoetai College ball on tomorrow night.
Bay Venues chief executive Gary Dawson said the damage was centred around where speedway was held, but that season had finished a couple of weeks ago.
It would be back up and running in August, but Mr Dawson was as yet unsure if they would be ready in time to re-open.
Mr Dawson said if the damage was just superficial - roofing and beams - they would be fine. However, if there was structural damage, it would not only take longer but cost a lot more to repair.
Mr Dawson said they would know more by late next week.
Other Mount residents took to community Facebook pages to share information. They reported roofs blocking driveways, trampolines "everywhere" and smashed windows.
"It was definitely a tornado that went through our flat," said Alesha Manaton. "Deafening sound, doors slammed shut and whole flat was shaking like crazy."
Zane Humphrey said: "The people living next door have got two big holes in their roof."
Tauranga City Council reported the tornado swept through Mt Maunganui streets Waitui Grove, Golf Road, Lodge Avenue, Ascot Place, Epsom Road, Maunganui Road, Owens Place and Baypark, damaging 11 homes.
Five commercial properties were also damaged.
Residents of eight homes were evacuated to stay with friends of family, as emergency services worked until 1.15am to check properties and make sure people were safe.
By midnight all roads were open and power was back on.
One lane on Maunganui Road opposite Links Avenue Reserve was closed for a time where a tree had fallen onto a power line on Maunganui Road.
Club Mount Maunganui was also kept open as a Welfare Centre until just before 1am.
Today, tree and roading contractors would undertake a damage assessment at for all affected streets and make safe any damage and clear debris.
Council staff were also to visit damaged properties first thing in the morning to offer assistance.
Police say the woman who died in a fire at a sleep-out in the Bay of Plenty was an 18-year-old local.
Neighbours were alerted to the blaze in Papamoa following an explosion around 11.15pm.
Firefighters and police were called to the property where the sleep-out building was well ablaze.
Inspector Karl Wright-St Clair of Tauranga Police said initial investigations had been completed and police were working with the woman's family to provide support.
Police were not looking for anyone else in connection with the death.
Bay of Plenty police released the woman's name this afternoon.
However, they later asked media not to publish the name to protect the identity of a person at the address who is subject to a protection order.
- additional reporting: NZME
