Latest news with #stormdamage
RNZ News
13 hours ago
- Automotive
- RNZ News
'I've never woken up so disorientated in my life': Community helps tornado victims
The car was whipped around by the tornado Photo: RNZ / Emma Andrews Clean up efforts are underway after a tornado tore through the Taranaki town of Waitara overnight. There was a bit of confusion when Susan Duncan was woken up by her dog barking on Friday night, she thought someone was tampering with her daughters car which was parked outside of her house on Aratapu Street. "I heard the wind and I heard the wheelie bins and stuff, and it's sort of a normal thing that happens, but my dog just wouldn't shut up so I thought I better get up," Duncan said. She looked outside and saw her trees beaten and then she saw the car and thought "what the hell?" Waitara Aratapu St resident Susan Duncan said her Ford Focus was picked up and tossed around in the wind, after reports a tornado ripped through the area just after midnight, on Saturday 28 June, 2025. Photo: RNZ/ Robin Martin There was already a dent on the car, but the car had been swung by the tornado leaving skids on the grass and its windows had smashed. "I'm so shocked that all this has happened but my house is still standing. I'm so grateful and lucky that it wasn't in the middle of the day - imagine iron flying at you." Her daughter Jade spoke to RNZ while on a video call with her mum. Jade works as a baker in Wellington and was saving money to fix the minor dent on her car. "To see it absolutely destroyed sucks," Jade said. "I'm trying to move to Melbourne so I was going to fix the car and sell it, so I had that money to get to Melbourne." It was part of her plan because her fiancé is over there waiting for her. The car was whipped around by the tornado Photo: RNZ / Emma Andrews The car is worth $5000 and the insurance was put on hold, Duncan said, now the car will "go to the wreckers". "We didn't want to waste the money while it's not being used right? Nothing's going to happen to it," Duncan thought before the tornado struck. People have rallied around those who have been affected by the tornado, continuously bringing supplies and pumpkin soup. Waitara High School principal Daryl Warburton jumped into the school van, hitched up the trailer, and headed to his friends house on Aratapu Street. He was there to pick up the debris and locate items that were scooped up during the weather event. The affected houses on Aratapu Street are next to farm land where there are normally horses - the residence heard from the owner that the horses are safe. A roof has been patched up from the weather event on Aratapu Street Photo: RNZ / Emma Andrews Warburton had driven to the house on the farm and collected outdoor furniture that had flown approximately 250 metres. He said the flying items had sliced through wired fencing at the farm house. Meteorologist Kgolofello Dube said the atmospheric conditions at the time were "favourable" to a tornado forming, and given the damage, it was likely. It is not yet confirmed that there was one. Firefighters were called to several homes shortly after midnight after strong winds blew out a sunroom on Elliott Street . Fire and Emergency NZ said there were no injuries, but at least 11 houses on the main street of Waitara alone suffered damage. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
16 hours ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Weather: Tornado rips through Taranaki town, damaging at least 11 homes
Residents in Waitara are assessing the damage after reports a tornado ripped through the area overnight, on Saturday 28 June, 2025. Photo: RNZ/ Robin Martin Residents in the Taranaki town of Waitara are assessing damage after strong winds ripped through the area overnight. Meteorologist Kgolofello Dube said the atmospheric conditions at the time were "favourable" to a tornado forming, and given the damage, it was likely - but Dube could not yet confirm whether it was one. Firefighters were called to several homes shortly after midnight after strong winds blew out a sunroom on Elliott Street. There were also reports of lifted roofs, flattened fences, and even a car being tossed around like it was a matchbox toy. Photo: RNZ/ Robin Martin Fire and Emergency said there were no injuries, but at least 11 houses on the main street of Waitara alone suffered damage. Photo: RNZ/ Robin Martin A Tuiti Street resident said the tornado had ripped off her roof, demolished a greenhouse, and took out trees on her property. Shirlene Patterson said she was in bed with her five-year-old granddaughter beside her. "I was sound asleep but then I heard the peeling and cracking of the tin coming off, and then a bang. I'm not sure what direction it was going - the bang could have been a tree going, it was a huge bottlebrush tree. "I had my five-year-old granddaughter in the bedroom with me, I got out of bed and grabbed her and brought her down to the other end of the house and it felt more secure." Patterson said her granddaughter was "absolutely my first priority", and she grabbed her and they went to a safer part of the house to take shelter. Her villa had "good bones" and that was probably what helped save it, she added. "The damage is significant, for a 100-year-old house, it's got really good bones and it is really sturdy. [But] the roof, the structure, its apex that was up there, that has all gone." Patterson said it looked like parts of a neighbouring property that was damaged had hit her house. Photo: RNZ/ Robin Martin At nearby Aratapu Street, Susan Duncan thought her Ford Focus had been hit by another vehicle, but the tornado had picked it up and thrown it around, smashing windows and denting panel work. Photo: RNZ/ Robin Martin Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
CBC
a day ago
- Climate
- CBC
'Like a clear-cut forestry operation': Cleanup begins at downburst-hit Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park
Cleanup starts after this northern Ontario provincial park was devastated by a downburst 7 hours ago Duration 2:28 Social Sharing When Cameron Hockey is asked to describe the devastation from a downburst that hit Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park in northeastern Ontario the night of June 21, he's almost at a loss for words. "The closest thing that I could correlate this to that some folks might have a mental image of would be like a clear-cut forestry operation," he said while standing in front of a building camouflaged by the large pine tree on top of it. Hockey is manager of the Algonquin Zone of Ontario Parks. Over the past week, he's been co-ordinating the collaborative efforts to clear fallen trees from the park's roads and assess the damage. "The number one priority right now is just to be able to provide that safe access for people to come on site and to grab their personal property," he said. Downbursts are powerful winds that descend from a thunderstorm. Unlike a tornado, which produces a wind funnel from the ground up, a downburst produces strong winds that move downward from a storm. Hockey guesses the storm destroyed at least 100 trailers and vehicles when it knocked trees over like bowling pins. He said it's a miracle no one was killed. Significant damage But some campers, like Colin Murphy of Eganville, Ont., suffered serious injuries. Murphy said his femur was shattered in four places after a tree sliced through his family's trailer and fell on top of him. Hockey said another camper nearly lost her arm after it was caught under a tree for hours. Emergency workers, who trekked through the brush for hours to reach the campers, were able to free her, and surgeons later saved her arm. The damage to the park is so significant that Hockey said it's impossible to say exactly when it will be able to reopen. A drone image taken by researchers with the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) at London's Western University shows thousands of trees in the park's Jingwakoki Campground were flattened. "There's so much material down right now that we actually need to remove a lot of debris just to fully understand all of the impacts that this has had on the park," Hockey said. He said that includes critical infrastructure such as high-voltage power lines, water systems and buildings, such as public washroom facilities. Non-profit caught up in the storm Bill Steer is general manager of the Canadian Ecology Centre, which is located in the park. Steer pointed to several cabins that had their roofs destroyed by fallen trees. Had the storm happened a week later, more than 100 students would have been at the centre for summer camps. "That would be a whole different story," he said. Steer said the centre will need to close for at least three months to allow for repairs. "As a non-profit, as an environmental education centre, we rely on operations, and so we don't get any subsidies," he said. "The next real challenge is going to be a financial one." Steer said it could take even longer for the park to reopen. "The park has to go through an initial assessment, and then I believe, you know, it's anticipated a major forestry operation will come through," he said.
CBS News
3 days ago
- CBS News
Detroit police officer struck by vehicle while directing traffic out of fireworks area
Storm damage in Metro Detroit; Dr. Hoover murder court proceedings; and other top stories Storm damage in Metro Detroit; Dr. Hoover murder court proceedings; and other top stories Storm damage in Metro Detroit; Dr. Hoover murder court proceedings; and other top stories The Detroit Police Department is investigating the circumstances of one of its officers struck by a car while directing traffic after Monday's fireworks show. The Michigan State Police, Metro Detroit post, said one of its tactical bike team members returning from Belle Isle to the Tri City Post saw the collision about 11:40 p.m. along I-75 near Holbrook. The trooper tried to stop the motorist. The driver briefly stopped, then kept going, lost control of the vehicle and crashed. The driver tried to run off but was quickly taken into custody, the report said. The suspect was turned over to Detroit Police Department. "Great work by the trooper taking this driver into custody," the MSP report said. In the meantime, Detroit Police is continuing its investigation over a shooting just outside a plaza fireworks viewing area that night in which two people were injured.
ABC News
4 days ago
- Climate
- ABC News
King tides, wild winds destroy jetties, cause flooding on SA coast
King tides, rain and strong winds have battered South Australia's coast, destroying three historic jetties and flooding properties with seawater. Wind gusts of 91 kilometres per hour were recorded at Cape Jaffa yesterday and gust of 78kph were recorded at Robe. At Kingston South East on the Limestone Coast the tide and wind completely split the 161-year-old jetty in two. "We do understand part of it has certainly collapsed and it's detached from one end to the other," Kingston District Council chief executive Ian Hart said. "It's probably not salvageable for a repair. The tide, waves and wind also forced water up the Maria Creek and led to flooding in low-lying areas. Roads were closed and power was cut to the Rosetown area for safety reasons. Thirty-six homes are still without electricity. Tony Bryant's home is near the creek and said the flooding turned his home into "an island". "We live over the back of Maria Creek, which has burst its bank with the king tide and the wind surge and flooded all of Rosetown again," he said. Mr Hart said the flooding was significant. "People who lived in the area a lot longer than I have say they've never seen anything like it for 50 years or more," he said. The busy tourist town of Robe's jetty – already closed due to damage from a storm a month ago – was also split in two and one home was inundated as the Lake Butler Marina flooded. Robe District Council chief executive Nat Traeger said the jetty was estimated to be worth $250,000. "There's some long-time locals there that have said they've not seen the coast or the sea as violent as it has been," she said. Part of the esplanade road at Fox Beach was washed away when waves crashed through and over sand dunes. "We've done some emergency work late last night … but we are now in a situation where we have road and foreshore side by side," Ms Traeger said. "There is no stop-gap with a sand dune there at all, so that is going to be a major problem for us and that road will be closed indefinitely." To the north, Normanville's 157-year-old jetty was also destroyed. Kiosk owner Rhett Day said the wind and waves slowly tore the jetty apart over the course of about five hours. "Now, there's just a couple of pylons sitting out on their own with a couple of twisted and buckled hand rails," he said.
