Photo: Northpower
Trees are down and there are widespread power outages after a tornado in Northland’s Mangawhai.
Hato Hone St John transported two patients from Mangawhai in a serious condition. One was transported to Auckland Hospital by helicopter, while the other was transported to North Shore hospital by road.
Four ambulances were also dispatched.
Videos posted to social media showed several trees down across roads, with emergency services working to clear them.
Northpower’s outage map showed three “widespread” outages covering Mangawhai, Mangawhai Heads and Langs Beach.
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Fire and Emergency said shortly 5.30am they had received 16 calls from locals, starting about 3am.
It had sent “several” brigades into the area, where they found “roofs lifted from homes, fallen trees and downed powerlines”.
The affected regions included Mangawhai and Langs Beach.
Photo: Supplied / Alan William Preston
Most of the calls have been from people in the Molesworth Drive and Old Waipu Road area, Fire and Emergency said, with a couple from Langs Beach and Ruakaka.
“Our initial response prioritised the calls that related to life safety. Firefighters extricated two patients and handed them into the care of St John,” Northland district manager Wipari Henwood said.
Photo: Northpower
“We are now working through all the calls for help with property damage and making systematic checks of homes in the wider area.”
A specialist drone team had also been called in.
It is not yet known how extensive the damage is, but one local reported that there were multiple houses on one street that had lost their roofs.
“People in the area should make safety their first priority and wait until daylight to assess damage to their property,” said response coordinator Graeme Quensell.
“They should treat all power lines as live, and please avoid driving in the area so as not to hold up emergency services.”
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