'Mini tornado' tears roof off Clyde house

The damaged house in Dunstan St. Photo: supplied
The damaged house in Dunstan St. Photo: supplied
A "mini tornado" has torn through Clyde, ripping part of a roof off a house, as high winds buffeted the Central Otago town.

Fire crews from Clyde and Alexandra were called to the incident. Photo: supplied
Fire crews from Clyde and Alexandra were called to the incident. Photo: supplied
A police spokeswoman said officers responded after a mini tornado blew the roof off a home in Dunstan St this afternoon. 

She said there was "quite a bit of property damage" in the area. 

A Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman said two crews from Clyde and Alexandra were called to "a weather event" about 3.20pm today.

Firefighters arrived at the property to find the home with its roof off and damaged properties nearby.

Crews remained on site until 5pm to assist with safety efforts and to salvage some property.

The spokesman said he was not aware of any injuries.

Four Square Clyde worker Gemma Thompson said customers today were talking about a "mini twister" that partially ripped the roof off a house and knocked the power out across town. 

A spokesperson from Aurora Energy said a fault response crew needed to remove some debris from a power pole in Clyde as a result of wind damage to a house.

"To keep our crew safe we needed a brief power outage to remove it." 

Strong winds for South 

After a weekend of heavy rain and snow to some places, the South now looks set to be buffeted by strong winds until Wednesday. 

MetService has extended a strong wind warning for Dunedin, Clutha and North Otago, from 9am today until 9am tomorrow.

The forecaster said these areas could expect severe gale west to southwesterlies gusting up to 120kmh in exposed places. The winds were expected to ease later today but then strengthen again overnight.

As well, there is a strong wind watch for Southland southeast of Riversdale, including Stewart Island, where west to southwest winds could approach severe gale strength in exposed places.

The warnings come on the back of a winter storm that brought traffic chaos to the South, and stormy conditions as far north as Auckland, where the Harbour Bridge was opened and closed several times yesterday because of strong winds.

However, conditions around the country look set to improve from Wednesday.

“There is an end in sight,” MetService meteorologist Luis Fernades said, explaining that the weather system responsible for the stormy weather would shift as the week went on.

“For several days now, the country has been sandwiched between a very broad area of low pressure to the east, and a ridge of high pressure to the west that’s building over eastern Australia.

“This has resulted in stubborn, icy southwest winds for us."

Fine days would dominate the country as the high-pressure system over Australia inched closer to New Zealand, Fernandes said.

“As is often the case with clearer and calmer conditions in winter, frosty mornings are expected for many inland areas, especially on Thursday and Friday morning."

A new front could approach from the Tasman Sea by Friday afternoon, he said, “bringing the next round of windy and rainy weather to the North Island for the weekend”.

- Additional reporting ODT Online/NZ Herald