Three men, one using a chainsaw to cut down a fallen tree on Moir Street. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf
The township of Mangawhai has been described as looking like a war zone, with houses destroyed, roofs torn off, debris scattered across the roads, power poles ripped off the base, and trees snapped like twigs after a tornado hit Northland overnight.
Two people were taken to hospital in a serious condition. One was flown to Auckland Hospital by helicopter and the other was taken to North Shore Hospital.
Kaipara District Mayor Craig Jepson said at least four homes were destroyed.
But he said the numbers displaced will be much higher.
"There's a whole heap of them that have temporary tarpaulins on their roofs, missing their roofs. A lot of those people have now moved on and gone with friends or relatives or been put by the generosity of other people in our community."
Jepson said there is a huge clean up job ahead.
"Quite frankly, I was blown away by what I saw - excuse the pun."
Fire and Emergency Northland district manager Wipari Henwood said the initial estimate is 50 homes damaged, but he expected that number will go up due to homes and businesses in the wider area damaged by falling trees.
Three properties in Mangawhai have been yellow stickered and one white stickered.
Kaipara Civil Defence Emergency Management Local Controller John Burt said following this morning's storm building inspectors have been out doing rapid building assessments.
From those assessments three properties have been yellow stickered - which restricts restricts access to the building, and one white stickered - which warns that the building may be damaged.
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Close to 5000 properties were without power in the Mangawhai, Mangawhai Heads and Langs Beach areas overnight.
Northpower said it is possible that about 140 homes on old Waipu Road - the area worst affected by the tornado - will be without power until 5pm on Monday. A generator will be supplied that will be able to reach about 60 houses in the area overnight.
Northpower spokesperson Rachel Wansbone said some residents on old Waipu Road have been cutting the power lines, which is dangerous and stalling the efforts to restore power to the area.
She said there are also about 65 homes on Moir Street that remain without electricity as of 8pm, but crew are aiming to restore power to those homes by 9pm.
Wansbone is urging residents in Mangawhai to not tamper with the powerlines.
Wansbone said it is unclear why some residents have taken to cutting the power lines, but she believes it is possible that home owners with the worst damaged homes on Old Waipu Road may have done so out of concern of fire risks to their homes when power is restored.
She assures people they do not need to be concerned about that risk, as Northpower won't be automatically reconnecting very badly damaged homes without having done an assessment first.
A destroyed business premises on Old Waipu Road, Mangawhai. Photo: Peter de Graaf / RNZ
Old Waipu Road
Old Waipu Road looked like a "war zone", RNZ's reporter said, with power poles snapped off at their bases and lines down for more than a kilometre.
Multiple houses have had roofs torn off and a few homes and a business were destroyed.
Police had closed the area to vehicles and Molesworth Road, a main thoroughfare, was blocked by downed trees.
Corrugated iron and a duvet were hanging from powerlines and high in the remaining trees, and there was even a kayak high in a hedge.
Work was under way to cover damaged roofs before it rained again.
Locals with undamaged homes were pitching in to help their neighbours, cleaning up debris, putting tarpaulins on roofs, and searching for precious trinkets.
Meanwhile, the owner of a house on Old Waipu Road said he had only lived in it for one year before it was destroyed in the storm.
"Two years to build, been one year in it and now this," Nick Berthoud told RNZ.
"Yeah, a bit devastating."
Nick Berthoud after the Mangawhai tornado, 26 January 2025. Photo: Peter de Graaf / RNZ
As for the damage: "80 or 90 percent of the windows are pretty much blown out.
"My outdoor furniture turned into indoor furniture, going through my sliding doors.
"Glass is absolutely everywhere throughout the house and around the property and, yeah, it's just an absolute bomb site to be honest.
"We had concrete tiles going through the roof from the neighbouring property and then also going through the cladding as well.
"So, yeah, pretty strong winds, I must say. Pretty hectic."
Berthoud said he was at home with his wife and 15-year-old son at the time.
"Yeah, pretty shit scary, I must admit.
"Out of nowhere, it kind of sounded like a turbine kind of turning on and getting loud and cranking louder and louder.
"Before you know it, you could hear our outdoor furniture smashing the glass through our kitchen and various other windows.
"So, yeah, it's quite a horrific sound. One I'd never wish to hear again or experience anyway."
While no one was hurt, Berthoud said his cat went missing.
"If anyone spots Tilly, she belongs at 44 Old Waipu Road.
"She's a little lilac Burmese thing.
"Let's find her. Yeah, love my cat."
"Mangawhai's a small community, but they clearly just look after their own," Berthoud added.
"They're amazing, you know, like we haven't contacted anybody for help. They've literally done it all on their own. And, I mean, I've got people here that I've never met before, and they just offer up their time and their trade to come and help out.
"So it's an unbelievable kind of turnout. And, yeah, it's such a great help from the community. Can't fault it in the slightest."
Moir Road closed to traffic as Northpower crews work to restore the power network. Photo: Peter De Graaf
Nearby, Matthew Taylor said he lost all of his outdoor furniture.
"Had a bed end up in our garage - we have an electric garage - and there's a bed and a mattress that was lodged into the garage.
Taylor said it was "very, very loud" at the time.
"We could see a lot of damage with the lightning. The sky was literally going from black to white with this lightning."
He described the scene on Sunday morning.
"A lot of arborists, chainsaws are running.
"A lot of debris. A big mess.
"Big cleanups to be had today, and probably for a wee while yet."
Taylor added Mangawhai was "a really beautiful, close-knit town".
"There's been various people offering accommodation, food, coffees, whatnot, from various other places.
"We've had a lot of messages ourselves come through.
"And yeah, I think just small towns, they sort of all get together when things like this happen, which is really cool.
"I think Mangawhai will be back to normal pretty soon."
Julie Wall's house on Moir Street, Mangawhai, had its roof torn off as the tornado hit the town. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Moir Street
Julie Wall, the owner of a house on Moir Street, told RNZ her roof had flown hundreds of metres away.
"Our one is the worst one on this street.
"We've lost the whole roof.
"Fortunately no one was staying in the bach, otherwise we would been terrified."
As for where her roof had gone? "My sister's brother-in-law, he came and said that they think parts of it are 300 meters that way, so it's gone a long way."
Wall said she was not going to do too much on Sunday since she was still without power, but would come back on Monday with some rubbish bags and see if she could clear some of the debris left behind.
"Not something I'd like to have happen again," she added.
And an Auckland man on holiday said he was lucky to be alive.
Graeme Patterson is staying in an Airbnb on Moir Street, where a woman had her car crushed by an oak tree outside the property.
A woman's car was crushed by an oak tree on Moir Street. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf
The oak tree that split and fell was a historic tree planted in 1938.
The only injury he received was a cut to his face, Patterson said.
"We woke up at about 3 o'clock and just heard this roaring outside.
"We just thought it was normal wind and the next thing we heard [was] this sound like a jet plane right next to the house we're staying at.
"I was in one of the beds out in the lounge and one of the branches flew through the window and smashed the window and covered me in glass.
"I was quite lucky actually to escape serious damage."
"The Mangawhai community's all just coming together," Patterson said.
"They're helping cut up all the branches. All our cars are crushed underneath this massive oak tree. So that's not a good thing, but at least we're okay."
RNZ is New Zealand's statutory civil defence lifeline radio broadcaster, providing vital information and updates as they come to hand. All frequencies can be found here.
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