VIDEO: Tornado on North Shore kills one (New Zealand)

VIDEO: Tornado on North Shore kills one (New Zealand)

www.3news.co.nz

There has been a large tornado on the North Shore.

The tornado is said to have picked up cars and at least one person has been killed.

There are reports the roof of Albany Mega Centre has collapsed and people have been evacuated from the building.

Police have confirmed there are injuries from the tornado.

It is thought the Harbour Bridge may soon close and there are further reports of an explosion at an electrical substation in Glenfield.

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Tornadoes in New Zealand are highly uncommon, we usually get dust devils and small whirling air currents at most that children play in. A destructive tornado of this magnitude that has killed someone, I cannot ever remember occuring in New Zealand. There has been roof damage and other property damage every few years, nothing of this magnitude. Very, very unusual.

I have two friends in the area this has struck who reported there are many emergency vehicles out, traffic is chaos, sirens everywhere. I am attempting to find out more, will keep ATS posted with what I find out.
We have had extremely high winds over the last two days, enough that I have had to move some plants inside, which I have not had to do before.

I'm going to go up the road with my video camera and telephoto lense to see if there is still anything happening out there.

Original youtube video linked below.

www.3news.co.nz
(visit the link for the full news article)

Im standing on my deck in westmere and the clouds look so weird. some going overhead very fast and i can see some in the distance going to the left its very wierd! we never get tornadoes here!

reply to post by GhostR1der


They've closed the bridge.

Some of my work contacts are across from the mall. So far, they all seem OK.

Just another example of the sharply increasing rate of powerful natural forces in these dangerous new times.

Damned scary alright! I know we have had a few baby tornados in the past few years, especially around Taranaki but this is a totally different kettle of fish.
Seems there may be multiple deaths now....crazy planet right now.

TORNADO VIDEOED

Wow... so the craziness continues...

It is just getting so far beyond ridiculously obvious that things are NOT what they should be in the world.

reply to post by annella


More twister reports (or more twisters) Pt Chevalier & Avondale.

reply to post by GhostR1der


My sisters in Albany - texted "torrential! Still pouring

A different video...I think...
Man, I must go check the news re more of them.

Have to say, after looking at the video I posted above...that tornado STILL looks a baby compared to the Alabama area ones. And also seeing the damage this one has done in comparison Im just so glad I dont live in Tornado Alley USA. Poor people.

Here are some photos sent to a radio station..The Edge..
Seems there are STILL tornados happening in Auckland. Geeze.
Twitter Photos

reply to post by Jomina

Originally posted by Jomina
Wow... so the craziness continues...

It is just getting so far beyond ridiculously obvious that things are NOT what they should be in the world.

edit on 2-5-2011 by Jomina because: (no reason given)

Yeah in the 20 years I grew up on the North Shore we had at most 2 small twisters that did little if any damage (I still remember sitting in my mums car watching an odd funnel cloud form way back around the early 90's and latter finding out it latter touched down a good distance away and took roofing iron off a few houses).

The weather is changing rapidly and anyone who says its no different than decades ago has blinkers on, heck where I live in the Waikato we got hit by a mini tornado only a week ago, knocked trees down all over the place (3 in our yard) and took the roofs off a few buildings over the other side of town... its the first one ive experienced in the 10 years since I moved down here.

The worlds definitely changing rapidly I tell ya... why who can really say.

All that was visible was a large rain downpour between north shore chelsea sugar works and cbd, nothing spectacular with the additional cloudcover and light rain. Guess it would have slowed when hitting the sea. There also appeared to be another large downpour around pt chev/avondale area which corobborates the reports by chr0naut.

Bit of livelyness to the day, sadly someone died though. Albany mall... good riddance! hah.

Birkenhead friend reports starting to clear up now.

Here she is as she struck. The red bits are incredibly dense rainfall, I have seen densities that high about four times in 5 years. Incredible down and updraughts would be taking place at this stage.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/bb191cdb27f2.gif[/atsimg]
image courtesy New Zealand metservice and animake gif animator.

reply to post by GhostR1der


heh wow, big old red mass right on top of Albany...

I wonder if it formed over the Mega Center since its a large area of hot carpark?, sudden uprising of hot air of the tar seal after a cold down pour? I dont know much about how Tornados form so it probably isnt anything like that.

Not that familiar with the new Albany, I still remember it as mostly nothing but Farms and Orchards for the most part from my childhood.

reply to post by BigfootNZ


Hehehe now that part of albany is a utopia of commercial concrete and cut n' paste housing. You could be right about the mall affecting it, extra updraught is more energy into the system, localised turbulence from the stadium also can come into play... so many factors with these things. It likely formed a while away though.

Originally posted by GhostR1der

Tornadoes in New Zealand are highly uncommon, we usually get dust devils and small whirling air currents at most that children play in. A destructive tornado of this magnitude that has killed someone, I cannot ever remember occuring in New Zealand. There has been roof damage and other property damage every few years, nothing of this magnitude. Very, very unusual.

There was a tornado that struck Albany almost exactly 20 years ago, that also had one fatality. And I wouldn't say tornadoes are highly uncommon here, they are just usually of comparitively small magnitude. The Auckland area alone averages 1-2 tornadoes/waterspouts a year, and Taranaki is prone to a few tornadoes each year. I've seen a couple of funnel clouds forming around the Taupo area when I was a kid, but no genuine tornadoes.

My opinion is that the weather has always been weird, but we tend to think what is going on at the present time is weirder or of greater significance than the past. If we got an F4 or F5 tearing through the country, I would start to be a bit more concerned, but right now I don't think there is anything highly abnormal. Just take care people, we live in a beautiful country that can show us the immense power of nature at any time. Best to always be prepared and ready when something occurs.