TORNADO CAPTURED: The Albany tornado was caught on cellphone camera by a bystander.
AN Auckland mall worker thought Tuesday’s fatal tornado was just “crazy, crazy wind”.
Employee William Northcott says his end of the mall received a 30-second dose of tornado wind, which blew in through the back entrance.
“We didn’t think it was a tornado at the time – we just thought: ‘Wow, strong wind’,” he says.
The MetService says that tornados in New Zealand can be difficult to find and track due to their small size.
It issued a severe weather report warning people of heavy rain and thunderstorms on Tuesday, but did not predict the twister.
Some shelves were knocked over in New World supermarket, but the real harm occurred down the other end of the mall where a portion of the roof was torn off.
Shops damaged include Pak’n'Save and Number One Shoes.
The PlaceMakers building was in the process of being dismantled before the tornado arrived, but the demolition site was also badly affected.
Mr Northcott says there was minimal panic in the crowd of evacuees, who were not told of the disaster by Westfield staff.
“It kind of leaked through. Somebody started saying it was a tornado and we all kinda went ‘Oh yeah, whatever’, and then people started getting all these texts saying ‘Oh my God, are you ok?’,” Mr Northcott says.
The mall was closed overnight due to concerns about the building’s structural integrity, but reopened for normal hours today.
The MetService says that there is a slim chance of smaller, less destructive tornados forming around the Auckland area, but does not anticipate the freak event recurring.