The cleanup is continuing in New Zealand's largest city this morning following a tornado which killed three people, injured seven others and caused serious damage in West Auckland
Three people were killed at a construction site on St George's Road in Hobsonville, in the city's northwest.
A shaken construction worker, Sam Nuthall, said he saw big dark clouds and thought it would just be a rainstorm but was forced to shelter between a block wall and a truck.
'You couldn't see it coming ... there was debris flying everywhere, steel getting thrown around,' he told Radio New Zealand.
There were 50 to 80 people on the site and there were a few 'pretty bad' injuries after the tornado struck.
Whenuapai resident Suzanne McFadden told 3News it was 'five minutes of utter devastation'.
'It got very muggy, very still,' she said.
'Suddenly the sky went very, very black, almost like night, and a huge wind came across the river.
'It ripped century-old pine trees out of the ground, it's taken roofs off houses, it's crushed cars and boats.
'The main street of our village looks like a bomb's gone off, and we're all very aware that it could turn around and another one could strike.'
The Fire Service spokesman said there were reports of people trapped in buildings.
