A south Auckland showroom had its whole front wall ripped apart by a tornado, with staff watching from inside the building, on Saturday morning.
Elite Bathroomware in East Tamaki was one of the twister's many casualties, damaging buildings, roofs, and tearing apart trees.
Sales consultant Clynton Hartung told Newshub he was one of five people still inside when the wall came off.
"We set up the showroom ready for sales this morning and there was torrential rain and a lot of wind, and then all of a sudden a massive gust came through," he said.
"We have a big A-frame sign in the front, and as soon as that lifted everyone jumped underneath their desks and we heard a massive roar, a loud noise, then a crash.
"We all looked up and the front of the building was in the front of the showroom. There was a lot of debris flying in the air, and then [the tornado] moved over the building in front of us, so we had front-row seats."
He said it was "very, very, very scary" and "unnerving" but was thankful no one was hurt.
However, the tornado wiped out the showroom's offices, and all of their computers on the second floor of the building, which will take time to repair.
"We were supposed to have a big sale this week coming which, fingers crossed, we can still manage that. But we'll see what happens - it's clean-up today and then we'll take it from there...
"I just hope everybody else is okay, I've heard some other areas were hit hard as well some other businesses so hopefully no one got hurt. That's the main thing."
