A shed was completely destroyed and an ambulance crushed as strong winds and heavy rain battered the Bay of Plenty overnight.
Brief tornadoes and extensive damage were reported by locals as wild weather swept the region.
A small shed on a property in Thornton near Whakatāne was destroyed after strong winds blew it apart about 10.30pm, a Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman said.
No people or nearby properties were at any risk, he said.
Only 20 minutes earlier, a tree crashed onto an ambulance in Ohope.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) and police attended the scene on Burma Rd after it was reported around 10.10pm.
A police spokeswoman said numerous trees had fallen in the area and emergency services could hear trees cracking in the wind.
No injuries were reported and contractors were being organised to clean up the debris.
Whakatāne resident Chris Graham had his trampoline blown 10m to 15m across his lawn, his horse float blown into a fence and a tree topple down in one of his paddocks.
He said the strong wind had come through quickly and had the whole house shaking and glass flexing.
Graham had the job of cleaning up the mess this morning with various things strewn across his lawn.
His advice for people was to keep an eye on weather warnings and secure things down when strong winds came through.
In Tauranga, the festive cheer was quite literally dampened as strong winds tore apart a local church's Christmas display.
Changepoint Church in Ohauiti had their Christmas light display ripped up by the winds.
One of the marques was "completely ripped to shreds by the wind and the velocity of the storm," said the church's Jon Dishroon.
A number of properties were plunged into darkness after powercuts rippled through the region.
1589 Mount Maunganui properties were affected by a powercut about 4.15pm as a palm frond blew into a powerline. It was restored quickly.
Another power outage affected 154 Pukehina residents about 5pm but was restored within a couple of hours.
The cause was more than likely related to the weather, a Powerco spokesman said.
Firefighters were kept busy in the Bay of Plenty being called to numerous weather-related jobs in Rotorua, Tokoroa, Tauranga and Whakatāne.
A Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman said none of them appeared to be major.
A MetService spokeswoman could not confirm whether the reported tornadoes were legitimate at this stage.
However, she did confirm that the region and the country all experienced storm-like weather.
Tauranga wind gusts got up to 65km/ph, however, only 4mm of rain was recorded.
Rotorua saw similar rainfall with only 7.4mm recorded at the airport station, however wind gusts in Rotorua and around Mamaku got up to 91km/ph.
However, Whakatāne and the Eastern Ranges trumped the lot with a whopping 49.3mm of rain and wind gusts getting close to 90km/ph about 10pm.
TODAY'S WEATHER:
Tauranga: A few showers, clearing to fine in the afternoon. Westerlies, strong at times. High of 22C, low of 12C.
Rotorua: A few showers, clearing to fine in the afternoon. Westerlies. High of 19C, low of 9C.
Whakatāne: A few showers, clearing to fine in the afternoon. Westerlies. High of 23C, low of 11C.
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