A tornado strikes Waihi Beach, causing roof damage and power outages for hundreds.

 

Photo: A water spout near Waihi, off the coast of the Bay of Plenty, where a tornado struck on Saturday just before 10 a.m. Bevan Taikato, the owner of bach in Waihi Beach, described the tornado's formation as one of the most amazing things he had ever seen. The tornado tore off roofs and cut off power to nearly 2500 homes.

Saturday morning, the storm struck the beach town of Bay of Plenty around 9 a.m.

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Mark Wright claims that while he was standing on the dunes, two water spouts became twisted and headed toward the shore.

"It was just like an explosion of debris up in the air, and I could just see debris and everything that was going on in the sky." Birds, things, and corrugated iron were all over."

Wright claimed that after his roof was torn off, he spoke with a resident who was trying to get in touch with a builder but did not get hurt.

"The second water spout I had seen forming out at sea also hit land," "We watched it cross the road as we stood around, quite perplexed by what we had just seen." We were simply in awe of what we were seeing."

James Denyer, mayor of Western Bay of Plenty, expressed relief that no one was seriously hurt.

He claimed that he had been speaking with locals near Seaforth Road, where the first part of the storm had struck, and that he had rushed to the area as soon as the tornado had passed through.

"I've seen roofs ripped off and thrown across the street; Because they struck power lines, they are down. They are overcoming and coping, despite their continuing shock.

A second tornado damaged cars and trees in the area south of Seaforth Road.

A second outage has caused the power supply to Athenree homes nearby to be cut off. This was done to ensure the safety of workers fixing the damage.

PowerCo anticipates resolving both issues early in the evening.