Bay of Plenty Camper Rescues Injured Pensioner After Tornado Hits Tauranga Bay Holiday Park

A dramatic rescue unfolded at Tauranga Bay Holiday Park in Northland when a tornado struck, leaving one motorhome flipped and an elderly man injured. A local camper, Kerrin Mangos, played a crucial role in saving the life of an 80-year-old man trapped inside the overturned vehicle.

It was just after 9 a.m. when Kerrin Mangos and his wife, Jane O’Carroll, were enjoying the peaceful morning at the holiday park. Jane noticed an unusual weather pattern forming offshore. "She said, 'Look how the wind is blowing the water up off the surf.' I said, 'That is coming our way.'" Within 30 seconds, a tornado brushed their caravan before moving on to cause chaos in the park.

Mangos quickly got out of bed, pulling on his shorts and heading for the door of their caravan, only to find it shunted about a metre. He described the force of the twister as "freaky" after the caravan was pushed off its stabilisers. Outside, he saw his 50kg boat being flung by the wind like it weighed nothing.

"And I look out the door, that caravan’s rolling towards that tree," he said, pointing across the park to a caravan about 30m away smashed against a Norfolk pine. A caravan at the park flipped about six times in the wind. It had been parked next to where Mangos and O’Carroll were spending the night.

"Then, of course, you don’t know what the hell to do," Mangos said. He raced over to the smashed-up caravan to check if the owner, Philip Wallan, was inside. He feared the worst, but then noticed that Wallan’s utility van wasn’t at the site. The absence of the ute meant Wallan was away from the campground, so Mangos turned his attention to the overturned motorhome.

A man in his mid-80s was trapped inside the motorhome, which had been blown over. Mangos climbed on top of the overturned vehicle, using the exhaust and other fittings to get up. He then pulled the door open and lowered himself inside. Inside, the chaos was overwhelming, with the contents of the campervan strewn throughout.

Mangos found an older man, in his 80s, inside the overturned campervan. "He was moaning about a sore back, so I didn’t want to move him… just put some cushions under his head. There was quite a bit of blood there." The older man told Mangos he believed his collarbone was broken. When the volunteer fire brigade arrived and cut the windscreen clear, the man was able to get himself out and was taken to hospital.

Philip Wallan, the owner of the caravan destroyed by the presumed tornado, said he was dumbfounded when he returned to find he had a lucky escape. He said the campground manager, Leah Bowsher, had called him in tears when he was shopping and doing a job in Kerikeri – his permanent hometown – to let him know what had happened.

"I’m just so grateful I wasn’t here. We wouldn’t be talking," Wallan said. He pointed to the Norfolk pine that stopped his caravan from rolling and how – behind it – was another row of caravans. "I’d say if it wasn’t for that tree, it would have been a lot worse. There would have been more caravans involved." Wallan was clear on one thing: today was the day to buy a Lotto ticket.

Mangos, too, was left reflecting on what to do after the day’s events. For him, it was the possibility of joining a volunteer fire brigade when he returned home. "It’s quite a good thing to help where you can."