TORNADO WARNINGS NOW FOR BAY OF PLENTY

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TORNADO WARNINGS NOW FOR BAY OF PLENTY

3/07/2007 12:00pm

Further heavy showers to return to Waikato and Auckland tonight

There are concerns more twisters may form in residential areas this evening as major line of heavy, thundery rain moves across the northern part of the country. Head Weather Analyst Philip Duncan says the heavy rain that brought a small tornado to Auckland this afternoon is now moving across Coromandel and into Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty. “Residents need to be aware that these squalls can produce nasty, brief showers with winds quickly gusting to gale force”. He says the safest place to be is indoors tonight, away from any wind blown debris. “Roofing iron is lethal if it’s lifted off. It’s sharp, wide and in the right winds it can move at well over 100km/h”. Mr Duncan says the bad weather should leave Tauranga in an hour or so and then move into eastern Bay of Plenty.

And there are more squalls moving in to areas already affected by this afternoon’s severe weather. “There are further squally showers in the Tasman Sea and they will make landfall this evening”. Mr Duncan advises people not to panic and that these tornados, although potentially dangerous and lethal, are nothing like the devastating ones in America. “These are capable of lifting roofs, blowing signs over and snapping branches – not flattening houses”.

He says tomorrow is looking a lot more settled, but that more severe weather is on the way for the entire country this Friday.

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