Tornado hits South Taranaki house, blows part of roof 300m away

A house in south Taranaki was damaged by a tornado earlier today. Photo / Supplied

A tornado “tore straight through” a South Taranaki house blowing part of the roof almost 300m away today.

Property owner John Louis Styger said only his wife was home when it hit.

“We were out at Rawhitiroa for a swim and when we got back to the car I had 14 missed calls on my phone so I rang back and was told Fenz was putting up a new temporary roof with tarpaulins,” he said.

“My wife was here and said it was unbelievable... it just tore straight through the place.

“The weather was perfect when we left. We couldn’t believe it.”

Styger told the Herald more than half of the roof had been damaged by the tornado.

“About a third of the roof was ripped off the house and blown to the neighbour’s house 300m away and the rest was damaged,” he said.

Torrential rain followed the tornado, leaving the house with a large amount of water damage.

Torrential rainfall struck moments after the tornado, which had left the house with a lot of water damage, Styger said.

“We can see where it came through the hedge because it has flattened that right down.

“My brother lost a couple of hay sheds and some doors,” he said.

A Fire and Emergency NZ spokesperson said Fenz was called to the Eltham property at 2.45pm and was there for around two hours.

The roof of the single-storey home was damaged and a fire crew helped weatherproof it.

A MetService meteorologist said they had received reports of a tornado near Eltham, but had not yet heard of any damage.