14 Dec 2012

Tornado damages houses in Cromwell

6:20 pm on 14 December 2012

A tornado has blown through the Central Otago town of Cromwell, damaging two houses.

Police say it touched down near the town's golf course about 3pm on Friday.

They say it moved across Nepusultra Street, through a reserve and across a number of properties between Horace and Ortive streets before dissipating.

The wind funnel lifted roofing iron and tiles off a house in Ortive Street and another in Horace Street.

Sergeant Simon Paget says a woman in one of the houses took refuge in the bathroom with two children under five years old, who found it scary, but were not injured.

Mr Paget says the twister blew over a clothes line and uprooted a large tree. He says a similar twister in Cromwell a few weeks ago threw a trampoline into the air and overturned a caravan.

The winds had dropped by Friday evening, with no other damage reported, he says.