A Kiwi family was left picking up the pieces after a tornado ripped through their home, destroying their farm, horticulture and killing their animals.
Te Puke farmer Kat French woke up in the middle of the night overnight on Tuesday to a loud crashing noise.
French had to hold her bedroom windows closed and her sister saw bits of tin flying outside.
"It was terrifying, it was really, really loud," she told Ryan Bridge on AM. "There was a lot of wind, there was a lot of crashing, you could just hear stuff crunching, the house was rattling."
They raced outside, still in their pyjamas, shining their phone lights and picking up what animals they could and putting them back in their cages and crates.
French said her daughter raises rabbits and guinea pigs and their hutches got picked up by the wind and thrown to the back of the farm, killing half a dozen of them.
Their chook houses completely collapsed, killing many of their chooks and ducks.
"We were collecting bodies."
Watch the interview above.
