A dramatic video has captured the moment a truck carrying highly flammable gas canisters exploded in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) was called to the fire just north of the northbound Papakura offramp on the Auckland Southern Motorway before 3am.
A police spokesperson said highly flammable gas canisters onboard the truck exploded all over the northbound lanes and into the bush on the side of the road.
Video sent to Newshub shows the moment of the explosion with a massive fireball bursting into the sky.
A different video shows the skeleton of the truck, which is completely burnt out and parked on the side of the motorway.
Police said the explosion saw about 30 people from 15 households evacuated and taken to the local McDonald's.
The explosion also saw parts of the motorway closed for seven hours.
Resident Anna Shortt told AM there was debris flying everywhere, their front yard was covered in ash and their windows were hot.
"The explosions were insane. Just these massive fireballs and the heat was unreal. By the time the explosions were happening, we were well across the road and inside our neighbour's house and we could feel the force of that," she said.
"But with every explosion there was debris, ash falling everywhere. Our front yard was covered in a really strange blue ash and cars were covered, roofs, everything. There was a huge barrel maybe that exploded and landed just on the other side of our fence."
Watch the video above
