A Levin school that narrowly avoided the direct path of a tornado has been showered in glass from broken windows and damage to neighbouring properties.
Damage caused by Friday morning’s tornado to the exterior of St Joseph’s Catholic School was mostly from downed trees and debris from nearby houses.
A neighbour’s garage was ripped from its foundations and thrown into the school field.
Sisters Rhianna and Laura Sweetman, who lived next to the school, on Weraroa Rd, said the tornado ran a path between their home and a neighbouring property, destroying the garage that was lifted onto the field.
WARWICK SMITH/Stuff
The tornado tore between Rhianna and Laura Sweetman’s home, on the right, and a neighbouring property. Both bordered onto the school.
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Rhianna Sweetman left home before 6.30am and hadn’t been concerned about the weather until she noticed power lines bending and bowing in the wind.
“I took my headphones off, because I felt like I needed to have my senses about me and listen out for any danger.”
She was three minutes into her walk when her sister called her saying: “The house is destroyed, get back home now!
“I could hear the stress and anguish in her voice and knew it was bad, that’s when I turned around and ran back home.”
Laura Sweetman said it was like “a freight train coming through”.
“The house violently shook and I came out here [to the lounge] in a panic. The ceiling had come down … then I saw the carnage outside,” she said.
The tornado had lifted parts of the roof and caused the ceiling tiles and insulation to drop onto the floor, windows and doors were smashed along the south facing wall, and the fence between their neighbours was demolished.
WARWICK SMITH/Stuff
A garage between two houses on Weraroa Rd was destroyed next to St Joseph’s School. Rhianna Sweetman looks over the damage.
“We have a tarp on the roof and are just hoping the weather doesn’t whip up again, because then we might have to look at getting out and finding somewhere else to stay, but we will be here as long as it is safe.
“I guess it’s a once in a lifetime thing, to say you have been in the path of a tornado, especially in Levin.”
WARWICK SMITH/Stuff
St Joseph’s School principal Maria Lyne walks across the school playing field strewn with glass and the remains of a neighbour’s shed.
The main danger to pupils was from the small shards of glass strewn across the school’s field, its principal Maria Lyne said.
The school would remain closed on Monday so glass could be cleared.
Karen Hearfield/Supplied
A home security camera captures the tornado tearing through Skye St in Levin.
“We have put a call-out to our school community for as many adults as we can muster to come and form a human chain on Monday to pick up as much glass as possible,” Lyne said.
“It’s going to take a great amount of effort to ensure all the glass is gone, so I expect our field will be out of bounds for an extended amount of time, before it can be deemed safe for the children.”
Fencing around the school was also damaged, and it would take time to restore those before the school grounds could be secured.
“We are very grateful that the tornado has followed an incredibly precise path, and has not caused any of the school buildings damage.”
