The tornado landed earlier this morning causing damage to at least five houses.
The full extent of the damage is not known at this stage.
Power lines are down without about 700 houses without electricity.
There have been no reports of injuries or death.
Yesterday saw a significant number of thunder storms hit central New Zealand with MetService recording over 33,000 in a 24 hour period.
⚡ This is what 24 hours of lightning looks like. 10 April has been a very active day for lightning with 33960 strikes recorded on our network. Of these, 8827 were over land.
Top 5 regions:
Nelson/Tasman 3341
Bay of Plenty 1501
Marlborough 666
Waikato 636
Buller 483 pic.twitter.com/3GKr16xo36— MetService (@MetService) April 10, 2023
More to follow.
Christopher Luxton will be rubbing his hands