News Story
Members have been engaged all afternoon at the aftermath of a tornado that swept through Hobsonville in West Auckland, leaving 3 people dead and several hundred houses damaged. Those killed were working on a construction site when the twister struck leaving a trail of damage about 500 metres wide for a kilometre or two near the old Hobsonville airbase. Of the houses damaged, many are uninhabitable with windows blown in and roofs torn off. Urban Search and Rescue teams joined fire fighters, police, Air Force personnel and a Civil Defence group at the emergency. 16 of our members responded, with others standing by if required. Duties included canteen, traffic management (complicated when nearby motorways were closed by debris), scene protection and command unit assistance while some members worked at the RNZAF Base where a control-room was established
