Now you know pig can fly - well, somehow...

[Pulsarblu]

Tornado sends pig flying

09.03.06 3.00pm

A tornado sent a pig flying through the air in South Canterbury yesterday.

The tornado struck about 2pm yesterday afternoon near Waimate and ripped the roof and much of the second storey away from the 140-year-old rented home of Dennis and Denise Fahey and their two children.

A local resident said a kune kune pig in a yard next to house was also picked up by the tornado and flung through the air landing unharmed in a nearby paddock.

A jet boat was badly damaged.

The house is now off limits and the Faheys were last night staying with friends while another home was found for them.

The house's owner Charles Ruddenklau described the tornado as the sort of thing usually seen only on television.

"It was only sheer good luck no-one was killed," he told the Otago Daily Times.

"If anyone had been in the house, they would have probably died."

The fire service had to pull down chimneys left perched precariously on the building and insurance assessors will have to decide whether to rebuild the home.

Waimate deputy mayor Jim Rayner told the newspaper he thought the tornado was going to wreck the town the same way one did in Greymouth last year.

"I have to admit I was pretty nervous because I didn't know what to expect it did hit Waimate."

Nearby the Faheys' home the roofs were ripped off sheds and hail stones the size of golf balls fell.

- NZPA

[Glenda]

Hysterical report! :icon_lol:

Only slightly off topic ...

There is a site I have found which shows the most amazing (really awesome) photographs of cloud conditions, sunsets, water spouts, etc. in New Zealand - http://www.metvuw.com/index.php OK, you may need some swotting to understand some of the terms describing the conditions, but IMO it [i:471ef9db36]is[/i:471ef9db36] fascinating. There is also a NZ forecast link that shows the weather over the coming week.

:icon_biggrin:

[selchie]

Thanks for the link, Glenda. Those photos of the water spout and all the others are great.

Poor pig; I'm glad he/she was OK. Earthquakes I can take, but hope to never be very close to a tornado.

[MotherBear]

Thanks, Glenda. A good example of the delights that Nature can offer. Who needs TV? :icon_biggrin:

Welshgirl, you should put your sunset pic on there :icon_wink:: . For those who haven't seen it yet:

[selchie]

Aaah, pretty! Someday I'm going to go crazy painting clouds. ...Yes, it can be difficult to get the paint to stick to them, but I've got to try :icon_lol: .