A mini tornado generated by the recent vicious storms caused havoc in the garden of one Port Navas family.

Malcolm Hooper and his wife were awoken by the strong winds, just in time to see what he described as a “mini tornado” come up from Port Navas Creek.

Malcolm said: “It was solid, opalescent blue with flashing electrical discharges inside. Very strange and scary. It hit us with a solid wall of hail and debris, but lasted only 5 minutes. I thought our windows were going to implode.”

“I suspect we have suffered more tree damage than anyone. We had a monterey pine of about 80 foot tall broken in half and four macrocarpas of 60ft to 70ft uprooted, with three falling alongside my neighbours house, damaging her roof and conservatory."

He added that his grandchildren’s trampoline, which was securely anchored down, blew clean over his neighbours roof, almost landing in the road to Port Navas.

Some outbuildings on the property were also crushed but luckily there was no damage to the main house.