A Motueka resident says the force of a tornado that struck near Nelson on Monday was "incredible" and it snapped adult pine trees "like match sticks".
Fifty homes bore the brunt of a tornado that ripped through Tasman on Easter Monday, and Motueka resident Brent Pickworth drove through some of the destruction left behind.
Pickworth told AM there was a significant amount of traffic and initially thought "oh typical weather, probably a car accident".
But Pickworth says once he drove a further 500 meters he began to see "all the debris over the road".
"Just like broken pine trees just scattered over the road. There were road signs just completely ripped out of the ground, not broken just ripped out of the ground."
Pickworth told AM pine trees he predicts were about 25 years old "were just snapped like match sticks and it was quite mind-boggling actually".
The Motueka resident didn't see the tornado and couldn't say how long it lasted, but said the pathway of destruction was clear.
"[There] would have been quite a few kilometres I would think and quite wide."
He said his son unknowingly drove through what Pickworth expects was the tail end of the tornado and texted Pickworth saying he'd "never been in such horrific road conditions".
"And he told me when he got home that the rain was swirling, so I would presume that he was probably on the edge of it but didn't even realise."
Watch Pickworth's full interview above.
