THE TORNADO IN AUCKLAND

THE TORNADO IN AUCKLAND




The tornado hit the North Shore suburb of Albany at around 3pm yesterday, killing one person and injuring around 20, with winds of up to 200kmh ripping through roofs and tossing cars.

A steady stream of people have been stopping and taking photos and about 10 workers from the Place makers construction site have been at the scene since 7am waiting to be allowed to return to their workplace.

Inspector Gary Davey said police hoped to have a better idea in the next few hours what stores at the Mega Centre could reopen.

Shopping centre workers are lining up along the road next to the mall waiting to hear when they will be allowed back to work.

Westfield New Zealand, the owner of the mall, expects the bulk of retail stories to reopen for business at noon today.
Davey said it may be that the shopping area is reopened in stages.

He said while some buildings had been damaged others had escaped unscathed.

There were also other problems.

"We have a store like Animates which has pets in it that we want to be able to give people access to."