Tornado Rips Auckland Houses

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30144, 30 May 1963, Page 12

Tornado Rips Auckland Houses

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, May 29.

A tornado over Auckland early this morning ripped oil roofing, smashed sheds and swirled debris over sections and homes. No-one was hurt. It strtick about 5 a.m., and its main force was felt in Glen Innes a n d Papa toetoe.

Roaring wind, rain, and the crash of wreckage awakened residents here, but other Auckland suburbs were also roused by the wind. The weather office reported that about an inch of rain fell on the city between midnight and 9 a.m.

One Papatoetoe resident woke at the noise then went back to bed, unaware that a huge, wooden spar had shattered his roof. Mr J. S. Bothwell, of 46 Allenby road, lost the iron roof off his double garage. It was scattered over the back yards of his neighbours. His caravan, weighing about a ton, had been spun

competely round. On his back lawn was a sheet of iron which had blown 300 yards from the roof of a house in Great South road. The whole roof of the house of Mr and Mrs D. Nicholson had lifted, but with the help of their two oldest children they made quick repairs. But these did not stop the rain coming through. Next door to the Nicholson's house the tile roof of a year-old block of three flats had gaping holes smashed through it. A car port was flattened and one of the two cars in it was damaged. Mrs G. W. Crummett and Mrs K. Chitty, who occupy two of the flats, said water poured into rooms through the holes. “There was no

more sleep after 5 o'clock.'' Mrs Crummett said. “Everyone was trying to do running repairs. It was a real freak. I thought all my birthdays had come at once.” Other damage in the area included broken television aerials, uprooted shrubs, broken tree branches and smashed windows. Debris was scattered everywhere.

A Glen Innes State apartment house in Maybury street was badly hit. About half of the fibrous sheet roof was lifted and thrown off. One of the women occupying the ( flats said it sounded like a ' terrific explosion when the tornado struck. Rain came inside, running down walls and into cupboards, she said. The tornado cut a swathe through an empty section and headed toward Apirana avenue where windows were broken and television aerials snapped and bent.