Today at 3pm Albany on the North Shore of Auckland got struck by an tornado, not even 5km away from my office and my current whereabouts.
The impact was quite severe although exact figures are not known at this point. Yet the police confirmed that there are several injuries after the tornado hit the Albany shopping mall.
According to a NZ Herald Report, the tornado had the following velocity:
WeatherWatch.co.nz reports the tornado that ripped through Albany would have had an average wind speed of 200km/hr.
The plans of the transport agency to close the Auckland harbor bridge, that is really the only connection between North Shore and Central Auckland have been revoked since the Tornado switched directions.
The whole incident really started not more than 1.5km away from where I currently am. Starting from there the tornado ripped through Albany on its way south approaching Auckland Central.
See the map for an overview about the distance between the shopping mall and Cegedim Headquarters.
Although the situation is not completely over it seem like the hardest bit has passed by. However one can still hear the constant noise of police and emergency sirens.
I will deliver more updates as soon as available.
See this YouTube Video for further tornado coverage in Albany:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBTAIld8efw
Linksection:
Link: TVNZ Report and pictures: Tornado leaves trail of destruction in Auckland
Link: NZ Herald – Albany tornado witness: ‘It sounded like a bad car crash’ – Constantly updated
Link: TVNZ.co.nz – The path of the Auckland tornado + Pictures
*UPDATE*
The tornado seems to have died out.
NZHerald just twittered:
Emergency services say #tornado followed a straight line south from Albany before dying out near Pt Chevalier to west of Auckland Central.
*UPDATE 2*
According to TVNZ.co.nz have two people died due to the consequences of the tornado:
*UPDATE 3*
According to Stuff.co.nz there is only one dead person but 22 injured people.