Tornado lashes New Zealand town

[senorpepr]

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - A powerful tornado tore through the town of Greymouth on New Zealand's west coast Thursday, tearing roofs off buildings and tossing shipping containers through the air.

At least three people reportedly received minor injuries.

Greymouth resident Jessie Deck said the twister caused widespread damage to the South Island town in just seconds.

"I was very scared. I heard this really large noise, and I looked up and black clouds were billowing up and huge bits of iron were flying through the air,'' Deck told New Zealand Press Association.

"The damage is unreal.''

Deck said she also saw a truck upside down in a lagoon.

Local mayor Tony Kokshoorn said 100 people had to be evacuated from a retirement home after the storm ripped the roof off the building.

"There's a lot of destruction - the tornado's come in from the sea and it's gone right through,'' Kokshoorn told NZPA.

In June 2003, about 20 businesses were damaged when a tornado cut a swathe through downtown Greymouth and a similar storm ripped through the town in March 2001, wrecking houses.

Eyewitness Jared Smith said he saw three people who had been cut by flying debris.

"If you had seen the movie 'Twister,' that is what it looks like from a distance,'' he said.

The tornado struck as a powerful cyclone hit a remote and sparsely populated northeastern region of neighboring Australia, causing little damage. - AP

http://thestaronline.com/news/story.asp ... sec=latest

[P.K.]

I've already made a thread for this http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=59095

As I've put in the other post it looks like a T5 or T6 from those damage reports.

[senorpepr]

Ah... silly me. I should have noticed that.