Two Dead In Auckland Tornado

[J07]

Small fry compared to the US, but significant storm for NZ.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4956336/Tornado-strikes-Auckland-leaves-trail-of-destruction

[Gray-Wolf]

I know you have plenty of 'weather' down there but are tornados a regular event (I've never heard of one there)?

Seeing as it struck a residential area I suppose we are lucky there were so few casualties?

[J07]

Revised to one casualty. There are lots of tornados in NZ, but they mostly form on fronts and aren't very damaging. This was different, and very rare for NZ.

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/video-extraordinary-footage-auckland-tornado-0-39-4153067

The above footage is the best so far, shows the twister crossing the road!

[Adi F]

That was a good bit of footage.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/tornado-hits-auckland-shopping-mall--one-dead-20110503-1e626.html

http://media.smh.com.au/news/world-news/raw-vision-tornado-strikes-auckland-2340743.html

[Nick F]

That tornado looks pretty violent and fast moving, surprised there weren't more casualties given it was broad daylight and moving over a built-up area. Quite possibly an EF3 tornado.

[Adi F]

Agree Nick especially when it turned cars over.

[Mesoscale]

Apparently the tornado had winds of 125mph making it a strong EF2.

Amazing stuff.