Boy flung in air by mini-tornado in Matamata

The mini-tornado as it leaves Matamata on yesterday afternoon. Photo: Selena Page via NZ Herald
The mini-tornado as it leaves Matamata on yesterday afternoon. Photo: Selena Page via NZ Herald

A Matamata boy was thrown two metres in the air by a mini-tornado that ripped through the central North Island town.

Matamata Intermediate pupil George Jeffrey and a friend were walking home from school yesterday when the weather suddenly changed.

"The weather was fine when we set out, there was no wind. Then I felt some leaves hit my legs, and I saw my friend run behind a house, George said.

"I felt the wind pick up, and I got picked up two metres in the air, and thrown back on the ground.

"It was pretty scary, and a bit painful."

While George was in the air a trampoline flew over him, narrowly missing the boy.

The 13-year-old suffered grazing up the side of his body, and was helped by some road workers and his mother's former boss who were nearby.

When George's mother Linda Burton got a phone call about the ordeal she had no idea there had even been a mini-tornado.

"My ex-boss rang and said she saw George had been lifted up by a tornado. I said, 'What tornado?'"

The tornado had taken a narrow path through the town, she said.

"We are only a street over from where it happened, and there was no wind at our place. We have a trampoline and it was not touched."

High winds had lifted roofs of houses in the town before, but never anything like this, she said.

Ben Furness' shed was badly damaged. Photo: Ben Furness via NZ Herald
Ben Furness' shed was badly damaged. Photo: Ben Furness via NZ Herald

Matamata resident Ben Furness arrived home from work to find his fence, and four doors and part of the roof had been ripped off his garage and workshop.

It wasn't until he reviewed his security camera footage that he realised what had happened.

"You can't move that stuff by hand. I have never seen anything like that before."

Elsewhere, the mini-tornado had damaged sheds, lifted roofs and brought down trees and power lines.

 

Add a Comment