For a short time today, late on Sunday morning (21st April), Raglan West was buffeted by strong winds. While the New Zealand Herald reported a ‘mini tornado’ in Raglan on Sunday afternoon and illustrated it with a file photo of a giant American tornado, it was more a case of extremely strong winds on Sunday morning.
Raglan Volunteer fire fighters were called out three times for storm damage in Tahuna and Taipari Avenues. The strong winds blew down a fence, uprooted large trees and took the roof off a house. In Taipari Avenue the wind blew a tree across a car. In another report, a caravan was twisted and knocked over. There are also reports of windows being blown out as well as deck furniture blown around plus a lot of debris everywhere.
No one was injured during the storm.
The most intense part of the storm and the lightning strikes missed Raglan and passed directly over Te Akau. Raglan Weather recorded 10mm of rain on Sunday to 5pm.