Peter de Graaf

The man who rescued someone trapped after what has been described a tornado in Northland says it's lucky no one died.

Garth Richter said his wife alerted him to a caravan rolling through the camp.

"I said 'twister', and I jumped up and told her to get out of the caravan as quickly as possible," he said.

"I came out and saw a totally squashed caravan, so I ran to that ... I would have thought that whoever was in it would be dead."

After Richter established the destroyed caravan had been unoccupied, he saw another had tipped over with someone still inside.

"I shouted to him, and he answered me, but said he was hurt," he said.

"I pulled the skylight off that was next to him, which he wasn't really happy about, but I assured him that was the least of his problems, and just propped him up and helped him.

"He thinks he's broken his shoulder blade and his back."

A man in his mid 80s was taken to hospital after being trapped in his campervan when it was blown over at Tauranga Bay Holiday Park, Northland. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf

Bystanders called emergency services to the scene who cut the front window of the caravan to rescue the man.

Richter said it was incredibly fortunate the situation was not worse.

"First of all, he's an 80-year-old man, to be alive after this is quite something," he said.

Richter said if the other caravan had not been stopped by a tree it would have "cartwheeled through the whole camp".

Photo: Google Maps

There had been damage to others in the campsite also, he said.

"Most people have got a bit of damage, but it's superficial, windows and through the sides, and a lot of stuff lying all over the place."

His own caravan had also been superficially damaged, he said.

MetService said intense rain and thunderstorms in the area meant there was the potential for tornadoes.

But a spokesperson could not say whether one had occurred.

However, wind gusts of up to 75km/h had been recorded in the Kaeo area.

This story was originally published by RNZ