Houses were torn apart and residents cowered in their homes after a violent and terrifying tornado hit a small community in central Otago on Saturday night.
It came down hard and fast on the tiny community in Springvale near Alexandra where a clean-up is now underway.
The violent and destructive twister ripped through central Otago on Saturday evening, damaging homes and property and alarming children.
"We really realised how serious it was when the heavy garden furniture was being completely picked up and thrown against things," Alexandra resident Susan Baxter said.
"The roof of the shed outside looks like someone has peeled it back like a sardine can."
Springvale residents in the path of the tornado cowered in their homes as it swept through.
"We were pulling the curtains down thinking the glass is going to shatter and we had the option of, do we go outside and try to stop the things from smashing against the window or do we stay inside and hope the curtains stop it from coming inwards," Baxter said.
Several people filmed the tornado as it was happening.
"That house just got demolished by that twister, holy hell I'm scared mum," one person said in a video.
The house in the video was majorly damaged and three other homes were also damaged.
"It looks like half a boat or half a caravan is attached to the top of the house," Baxter said.
MetService said the tornado developed in the northeast about 20 minutes before it hit the small community in Alexandra just after 6:00pm.
"Everything was sort of swirling in a circular manner. It did look like a scene out of Harry Potter or some sort of magical movie, as everything sort of lifted so high and was circling around," Baxter said.
Thunderstorms had been forecast for the area but not a tornado, and MetService said it was a rare event.
"You need everything to line up, so it's like popcorn in a pan, you put the popcorn in, a bit of oil, a bit of heat but you never know which corn will pop first and in this scenario the poor people of Alexandra got hit by it," MetService's Lisa Murray said.
The community is now cleaning up, and feeling thankful for what could have been.
"If it can pick up something that's the size of the furniture that was outside it could certainly pick up a human being and that would have been a much bleaker story," Baxter said.
The outcome of the tornado is comfort for the community that is usually known in summer for its record-breaking temperatures, not its tornadoes.
