Mellanee Kendrick and Jo Logan lived in their Welcome Bay home for 10 years. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was terrifying, particularly after the windows in the front bedroom smashed and blew in where Monica and Ella were sleeping, and the roof was torn off. The garage is also gone.<\/p>\n
\u201cElla and Monica were screaming, and Monica told us she genuinely believed they were going to die.\u201d<\/p>\n
Logan said after the tornado, sparking power lines were left lying across the home\u2019s roof space.<\/p>\n
She said with the roof gone, it was raining and the house started flooding.<\/p>\n
They quickly scrambled in the dark to find clothes and a torch, and fled to a neighbour\u2019s.<\/p>\n
The tornado tore through the home they had owned for 10 years within seconds, before travelling through neighbouring properties.<\/p>\n
Logan said it was \u201djust like a freight train leaving a trail of destruction”.<\/p>\n
She said five other homes in their small neighbourhood also suffered severe damage. However, their home on the road frontage bore the brunt as the tornado came down from Maungatapu and through a gully.<\/p>\n
Jo Logan and her family are living in temporary accommodation after a tornado ripped through their home. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Casuarina trees across the road had \u201dsnapped like toothpicks\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n
Seeing the damage in the light of day, Logan was astounded they were all uninjured.<\/p>\n
She said glass in the front bedroom included \u201ca massive and incredibly sharp shard\u201d on the pillow where Ella had slept.<\/p>\n
Logan was amazed no one was injured.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable that Ella and Monica were not injured or killed.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said there was severe damage to other homes, and a small cottage next door lost its roof. <\/p>\n
A neighbour\u2019s house had smashed windows, part of the roof was torn off, the chimney had gone, and windows were blown in.<\/p>\n
Two other neighbours had windows smashed and damaged roofs and sheds.<\/p>\n
A few doors down, the top of a neighbour\u2019s two-storey home was partially twisted. <\/p>\n
Logan said a tree smashed through the bedroom window of another house.<\/p>\n
Downed trees on the road outside Maungatapu Marae after the Tauranga tornado. Photo \/ Rosalie Liddle Crawford<\/p>\n
She said an insurance contractor visited their property yesterday, and advised her the home had shifted off its foundations and was \u201cstructurally compromised\u201d.<\/p>\n
They were expecting a call from their own insurer to carry out an insurance assessment on Monday. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s devastating, we\u2019re homeless. But when I woke up this morning, I said to myself, \u2018we are all okay, we didn\u2019t die, the house did not burn down, and we are still together\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Logan was extremely grateful to people who turned up to help pack belongings into boxes and offered to put them into storage for safekeeping.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Mel and I have always said, our home isn\u2019t a palace, but it was our home, and to have it gone like this in just seconds is heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Logan said they were temporarily staying in accommodation provided by her employer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know how long it will take to find a permanent place to live or whether our damaged home will have to be completely rebuilt.\u201d <\/p>\n