Fear and anxiety are rippling through parts of Tauranga after a tornado tore through the city.

One or more tornadoes struck about 1.30am on Sunday, cutting a path from west to east‑southeast with a thunderstorm.

At least 15 properties were damaged across Ōtūmoetai, the central city, Maungatapu and Welcome Bay.

Four families were displaced, while residents described devastation, rising fear and a community once again rallying after a severe weather event.

Welcome Bay ward councillor Hautapu Baker said the two families displaced in Welcome Bay were put up in a hotel overnight.

“We are committed to keeping them in that accommodation as long as they need,” Baker said.

Another Welcome Bay family was in accommodation provided by her employer after the tornado destroyed their home.

Building inspectors were assessing properties today to determine whether it was safe for residents to return.

Baker said “anxiety is high” in the community.

Welcome Bay ward councillor Hautapu Baker overlooking Maungatapu Marae, which was damaged when a tornado struck on Saturday night. Photo / Rosalie Liddle Crawford

Coming off the back of other severe weather events this year, “there is just a lot of fear”, he said.

People were asking: “What’s next and how bad is it going to be?”.

Some residents self-evacuated to stay with friends and family.

The Maungatapu Marae and the Rangataua Sports and Cultural Club were badly hit.

“It was a kind of a war zone-type situation down at the marae [yesterday] morning with broken glass, roofs being lifted off the ablution block, broken windows and doors, big fallen trees and things like that,” Baker said.

Clean-up efforts yesterday had made “great progress”, a “big bulk” driven by locals.

“Everyone just mucked in and got the job done,” he said.

Baker asked the community to “be kind” to council staff working on the ground after the “unexpected” tornado.

He said crews had received “a bit of abuse” from residents frustrated by road and reserve closures.

‘Could have been way worse’

Maungatapu mum Hotu Frew was feeling uncertain about what would happen next after she and her two children had to leave their tornado-damaged home of about six months on Sunday.

She said the windows were smashed and the roof was “propped up” to stabilise it after one side “kind of peeled back”. Carpets were soaked after rain came in through electrical fixtures and broken windows.

Frew was grateful, however, that it did not happen 24 hours earlier, when her 14-year-old daughter and five friends were sleeping in the lounge area - “where it blew out” - after a birthday celebration.

The roof of Maungatapu resident Hotu Frew’s home has been "propped up" following damage caused by a tornado. Photo / Rosalie Liddle Crawford

“I just think, ‘Oh my god, this could have been way worse’,” she said.

“The thought of what could have happened or what could have been is scary.”

Frew said council staff visited on Sunday and told her the home would be deemed an “unsafe or dangerous building”.

The family had earlier managed to get most of their furniture and belongings out and into a friend’s container.

Frew was worried about looters after seeing “rubberneckers” and people “just watching” the home on Sunday.

“While I have insurance, it is just bare minimum … it’s not a lot if everything gets wiped out and you have to replace it all from brand new.”

The aftermath of a tornado at Maungatapu resident Hotu Frew’s home. Photo / Rosalie Liddle Crawford

Frew said Sunday was overwhelming and the “shock of it” hit when she left to stay at her friend’s house.

“I think every day we’re going to encounter something that’s different and … just try to get through it as best we can.”

Community trying to rebuild

Welcome Bay Rd home owner Ali Hill considered herself “lucky”.

Her property was “significantly impacted”, but “we still have a house and our roof”, she said.

Avocado trees from her neighbour’s orchard had been “ripped out” and landed on her driveway, blocking it until this morning.

She said her sheds were “flattened” - contents left “everywhere”. The chicken coop she had spent “hours” building and her TV area were “wiped out”.

It was a “shambles”, Hill said.

Her power was restored last night, though the food in the fridge and freezer was already ruined.

Ali Hill’s Welcome Bay property after a tornado tore through Tauranga, leaving contents scattered across the site. Photo / Supplied

Hill said the road was an “absolute no-go” yesterday and local parks had been “decimated”.

It was “devastating”, she said.

Graham Moss lost the roof of his Corinna St home, with pieces scattered across neighbouring properties.

His son, Cory Moss, was sleeping in a cabin on the property when the tornado lifted it off its foundations and threw it on to a car.

The cabin had been put back in place, Graham Moss said.

They stayed in the house overnight after firefighters secured a tarpaulin.

Moss said the council was assessing the property today and would advise on the next steps.

He said about six homes in the area had their roofs “ripped” off.

The community was just trying to rebuild again, he said.

The cabin Cory Moss was sleeping in was lifted off its foundations and thrown onto a car when the tornado hit. Photo / Rosalie Liddle Crawford

What is a tornado and how common are they in New Zealand?

Tornadoes are rapidly rotating columns of air that extend upward into deep storm clouds known as cumulonimbus clouds.

These are the same clouds responsible for thunderstorms and hail, according to MetService meteorologist John Law.

In New Zealand, most thunderstorms - and therefore most tornadoes - are near the coast.

Western coastal areas of the North and South Islands are particularly vulnerable, as coastal influences can help generate rotational movement where winds converge.

While there are no Bay of Plenty tornado frequency records, New Zealand annually experiences 10 to 12 tornadoes.

“Tornadoes in New Zealand are generally much smaller in scale than the large, destructive tornadoes seen in places like the United States,” Law said.

“However, despite being short‑lived and affecting relatively narrow areas, they can still produce violent winds and cause significant damage, as we saw in Tauranga over the weekend.”

Their small size makes New Zealand tornadoes difficult to detect using radar or satellite imagery.

Meteorologists often rely on witnesses and post‑event damage assessments to confirm their occurrence.

“Tornadoes are usually associated with thunderstorms and sudden gusty winds,” Law said.

“If people see a funnel cloud or hear thunder nearby, the safest option is to get inside immediately.”

Their highly localised nature makes forecasting tornadoes challenging.

Instead, forecasters focus on identifying weather conditions that are favourable for their formation, similar to how thunderstorms are forecast.

If there is a significant threat, the risk is highlighted in the daily Thunderstorm Outlook | MetService.

Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.