Tornado clean-up in Mount Maunganui

Clean up and assessment work is underway in Mount Mauganui after last night's tornado damaged houses and the local Baypark Stadium.

The Tauranga City Council said people whose homes were damaged in last night's tornado were being contacted by welfare teams.

11 houses were reported damaged, and people in eight of them were forced to leave.

The Tauranga City Council said three building inspection teams had gone to the damaged homes and the commercial sites.

There have been no reports of injuries.

Fallen power lines cut the electricity supply for four hours from about 8pm, when the tornado touched down.

Mt Maunganui Intermediate was closed after last night's tornado that also damaged homes, businesses and the Baypark stadium.

The school's principal Lisa Morresey said she was grateful the tornado did not strike during the school day.

School buildings were reported to be structurally safe but volunteers were called int this morning to help with the clean-up.

The school was closed today because of extensive damage, which she described as heartbreaking.

"The were insulation from people's houses, there was roofing, there were three trampolines just thrown from quite a distance, shade sails have been ripped and destroyed.

"There's a lot of debris everywhere, a lot of tree damage."

She the school's new astro-turf, worth $120,000, had been ripped apart.

The school was expected to open on Monday.

All local roads have now been cleared of debris, but the damage to property still needed to be assessed.

Resident Frazer Ta Haara was still talking about what it was like when the tornado hit.

"It sounded like the train was coming and it just got louder and louder, and then all of sudden everything just went boom... everything went dark."

Resident Murphyne Rawiri's walls were scratched by flying glass, and her roof has mostly gone.

"Yeah I'm still a bit shaken up about it. It was just a big loud roar and my partner and my nephew came down the hallway and it was like the glass was following them.

"The glass from those windows is actually down in my hallway now."

Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby said there had been significant damage to about 11 homes, and five commercial properties in Owens Road have also suffered damage.

Mr Crosby said council staff were assessing the properties.

"There is significant damage on those roofs' sections. That iron was scattered all over the paddocks and onto the road. Fortunately it is in a reasonably isolated area, there are no residents around there."

Mr Crosby said he expected a number of home owners would need to claim insurance.

"I hope they are all insured. While it was localised damage, the tornado did hit some of those homes, it's quite significant. I'm sure they will be working with their assessors today or tomorrow."

Mr Crosby said Baypark Stadium was stripped of a significant portion of its iron roof.

"Our sports stadium, our arena, and speedway stadium has lost about three bays of its roofing. Fortunately the iron went to an area where there were no homes and we understand there have been no injuries on that event."

He said he has been assured the region had enough resources to cope with the clean-up.

The managers are hoping to get a report by Monday on how serious the damage is.

The chief executive of Bay Venues, Gary Dawson, said further gusts today highlighted how dangerous the loose debris was

He said it was hoped that the damage ws superficial rather than any major structural issues, but said that the stadium would still be able to carry on with its events and programmes.

Fire Service area commander for Bay of Plenty Murray Binning said the damage was significant.

"A number of houses have received significant damage to their roofs, partial-to-complete roofs being moved, windows broken, there was a report of a trampoline embedding itself in another house's roof."

Mr Binning said the Fire Service expected more calls this morning from business owners arriving to find damage.

Tauranga Airport escaped damage and Civil Defence was not activated.