Wild weather: Mini tornado strikes Levin, causes widespread damage

A man cleaning up an area where his two sheds were until hit by a tornado on Goldsmith Crescent in Levin. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Levin residents had a rude awakening this morning when a tornado scorched through the Horowhenua town, causing widespread damage and causing major disruption.

Levin man Tyson Sager says he was stunned to see his neighbour's station wagon fly backwards past his home as a tornado roared down his street.

The Kinross St resident said he was woken early this morning by incredibly strong winds that kept ramping up.

"I woke up, jumped out of bed and looked out the window and I saw my mate's car flying backwards down the road.

"It was a red station wagon and it was just flying down the road and the wind was blowing it like nothing.

"So I woke my missus up and said: 'My mate's car is flying down the road'."

Buildings were torn apart by the storm.

The next thing trampolines were whistling past and his neighbour's cabin was shaking violently in the wind.

"This was bad. In my life, I've never ever encountered anything like this before. This was scary."

A man cleaning up an area where his two sheds were until hit by a tornado on Goldsmith Crescent in Levin. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Sager said the tornado brought down trees and powerlines, cutting power and leaving the entire suburb in pitch darkness.

"All you could hear was people screaming," he said, describing the aftermath of the frenzied weather.

He said daybreak revealed streets in the area with extensive damage including roofs stripped of tiles, fences destroyed and trees down everywhere.

As dawn broke, the scale of the damage became clear. Photo / Rei Natz Sy

"We've got an old man a few houses down and he's just bought a new flash caravan. Well, that got tipped. He's really gutted because that was like a $30,000 caravan that's just been destroyed."

Labour's Ōtaki MP Terisa Ngobi went live on Facebook sharing the scene outside her Levin office, where a large tree came down and blocked the road. She urged residents to stay home and advised anyone thinking of coming to or through the town to stay away.

She also shared photos of the damage, revealing the rear of the electorate office had been ripped away by the wind.

Damage to the rear of MP Terisa Ngobi's electorate office in Levin. Photo / Terisa Ngobi

A large tree fell outside MP Terisa Ngobi's electorate office in Levin. Photo / Terisa Ngobi

"The back wall of our office has completely disappeared and trees are down in the main street," Nogbi said.

The region was also hit with heavy hail, with Ōhau residents sharing photos and videos of large hailstones piled on roads and residences.

Locals rushed online to share photos and video and to check on neighbours, saying "Mother Nature is out in force" and that the noise of the hail had scared them.

Ohau had a wild start to the day when a large hailstorm hit. Photo / Stacey Duggan

The hail in Ohau lay thick on the ground this morning. Photo / Michelle Fox Cooper

Horowhenua District Mayor Bernie Wanden is advising Levin locals to "hunker down" as the area continues to experience severe thunderstorms.

He said this morning's weather chaos has been traumatic for some as the tornado left a trail of destruction through the west part of the town.

Road across Levin were blocked by fallen trees. Photo / Terisa Ngobi

Some roofs had come off, lots of trees were down and there were widespread power outages, Wanden said.

"We're just in the process of trying to restore power, clean up the debris and get things back to normal as quickly as we can."

Police say they will be providing extra community reassurance patrols in Levin today and warned of surface flooding and power lines being down.

Damage to roofs, power outages, polar blast hits NZ

Horowhenua residents are reporting extensive damage to roofs around Ōhau with power out in the area and a thick layer of hail covering the ground.

There are reports that roofing iron has blown onto the train tracks and locals are describing the predawn blast as "gnarly".

The tornado comes as Mother Nature is set to unleash a full smorgasbord of weather on New Zealand today with snow, gales and rain forecast for many parts of the country.

⚡ 4297+ lightning strikes around New Zealand & the Tasman Sea since 12am Friday...

Thunderstorms are moving into the western North Island this morning, signalling the arrival of a cooler, unstable air mass. pic.twitter.com/s8sKx4Dih4

— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) May 19, 2022

Snow is forecast to fall across most of the South Island as well as parts of the lower and central North Island today and over the weekend.

While temperatures in the upper North Island will stay relatively warm, gale warnings have been issued for Auckland's Hauraki Gulf, Manukau Harbour, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and Bream Head in Northland to Cape Colville.

It follows a spectacular lightning show over central New Zealand last night and the stormy conditions are set to continue this morning for the capital.

⛈🌩⚡ WOW! ⛈🌩⚡

That is a SERIOUS lightning display which just passed through the #KapitiCoast ! The show is over, for now, as heavy rain moves towards Manawatu.

Lightning data thanks to Transpower pic.twitter.com/gnHtMgBnwU

— MetService (@MetService) May 19, 2022