MetService issued a severe thunderstorm watch for the regions around 5.30pm last night as the weather system moved further north.
At 9pm last night the severe thunderstorms which affected Gisborne and northern Hawke’s Bay throughout the evening began to weaken and move offshore, but "a few thunderstorms with heavy rain and hail" were still expected into the night, MetService said.
A severe wind watch was also issued for Hawke’s Bay, south of Hastings and the Tararua District which remains in effect until 8am this morning. MetService warned westerly winds may approach severe gale in exposed places.
The watches followed buckets of rain, large hail, surface flooding and a tornado battering Wellington yesterday afternoon, causing widespread damage.
Lower Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry said a "tornado" has caused a significant amount of damage, particularly to buildings with roofs lifted and debris scattered around the city.
Lower Hutt residents describe ‘chaotic’ storm, tornado
Lower Hutt residents yesterday described the situation as chaotic with trees down across roads and scores of shop windows smashed.
Many reported a tornado ripping through buildings. MetService meteorologist John Law told the Herald yesterday a tornado was "certainly not out of the question, but hard to confirm".
Law said winds had "packed quite a punch" with windspeeds at Wellington Airport hitting 98km/h, in Lower Hutt it reached 96km/h and on Mt Kaukau gusts reached 128km/h.
"My car was lifting and my boy was screaming, it was just like your typical Hollywood blockbuster," one Lower Hutt man said during the tornado.
Police confirmed multiple roads were blocked in Hutt Central by downed trees, and there has been extensive damage to cars and homes across the region.
A worker at Queensgate in Lower Hutt said several police, fire and ambulance vehicles responded to the shopping centre.
"I can’t see into the centre but a lot of that has been based around the exit point for Countdown, which is based in the mall," they said.
They said seeing the weather escalate was "quite freaky" after conditions didn’t look that threatening yesterday morning.
"All of a sudden it just hit. There were quite a few people who were very afraid because it was very noisy but we were all safe inside," they said.
More than 2000 properties were left without power in the Wellington region for a few hours, lines companies Electra and Wellington Electricity announced.
Two children among those injured
Several people required medical attention yesterday, including two that needed to be hospitalised and a report by Hutt South MP Chris Bishop that two children have been injured.
Wellington Free Ambulance said its staff responded to several weather-related incidents in the Lower Hutt region yesterday afternoon.
The majority of patients were treated at the scene.
Bishop took to Facebook yesterday evening, expressing his concern for two kids who had been injured in the tornado.
"Really concerned to hear about the tornado in the Hutt today, and particularly worried about the two kids who have been injured - I hope they recover quickly," he wrote.
Bishop said it sounds like there will be a big cleanup job amid the aftermath of the weather event.
"One of the best things about the Hutt is seeing people step up to help each other, and I know today’s storm will be another great example of that," he wrote.
Bishop later took to social media announcing the roof of his electorate office had collapsed in the storms. The damage to his offices on Bloomfield Terrace, Hutt Central, occurred around 3pm yesterday.
"There was a roof here this morning. #huttnado," Bishop posed on X, formerly Twitter shortly after 8pm.
Bishop again took to social media shortly before 10pm last night, revealing photos of the tornado’s aftermath.
"Quite a bit of damage via #Huttnado. Luckily and thankfully it seems no loss of life," he wrote.
