Wild wind sends Te Awamutu shed flying

Wild wind sends Te Awamutu shed flying

Strong winds picked up a shed and threw it clean across a Te Awamutu woman's property on Tuesday night.

Trees were also uprooted in the wild weather, with a suspected tornado to blame.

"We were sitting in the lounge watching TV and then there was a big bang - it sounded like a freight train had gone through," Rachel Ritema told Newshub.

"We all ducked for cover, and next we heard someone from behind us come knocking on our front door, telling us our big kowhai tree had come down. I got changed, came out to investigate, and saw that our chimney had collapsed as well."

"Had to be a tornado," says Ross Ritsema.

"The neighbour's shed ended up in our other neighbour's backyard."

Kelly Hana, her daughter Neveah and Neveah's "best friend" Bayley also got a close-up look at Mother Nature's fury.

"It all started with all this rain," says Ms Hana, "and then the wind got really heavy and the girls started getting a bit scared. I came running outside - we've got a chair that normally sits outside here - and it went flying to the end of the deck. I came out to go and grab it, next minute I see this wrought iron go flying."

She fled inside and waited for the wind to die down. Bayley phoned home, which just around the corner was also in the path of destruction.

"I was crying and I was just trying to see if my family was alright because the tree nearly fell down on our house."

Ms Hana's house suffered damage, with firefighters called in to fix the roof after the wind died down.

Ms Ritsema had the fire on when the weather turned sour, before her chimney collapsed and made a mess indoors.

"We've got soot everywhere inside, so a bit of a clean-up job to go on."

Te Awamutu wasn't the only place hit - one person was hospitalised in Morrinsville after their car collided with a fallen tree.

Newshub.