A tornado has hit just north of Waikanae on the Kapiti Coast, North of Wellington.

Trees have fallen across roads and onto houses, power lines are down and a car has been blown off the road.

A person had to be rescued from their house amidst the storm this afternoon, after a tree fell on it.

Emergency services rushed the person to hospital with moderate injury levels.


MetService says tornadoes are not unusual during thunderstorms, with stormy weather hampering the Kapiti Coastline for most of today.

Winds in some areas reached as high as 150km/h, with reports of hail stones the size of marbles.

Nelson resident Shaun Zweilfellow said thunder in the region sounded like a jet engine.

"...thunder in Nelson sounds like a jumbo jet is sitting over my house... can imagine its pretty bad up those ways," he posted on Facebook.

MetService forecast the stormy conditions to continue into the night and tomorrow morning.