A worker killed by a tornado at Ports of Auckland’s Wiri freight hub on Saturday morning was father of two Janesh Prasad.
He was described as a “beautiful soul” and a “humble, caring” man by his family and friends.
The mechanic, who was a contractor at the site, was repairing a forklift when the tornado struck.
It’s believed he was lifted into the air by the tornado and carried some distance before hitting an object, Auckland mayor Phil Goff said.
“Our hearts go out to the family,” Goff said.
“A lot of damage there with the tornado tossing about 30 tonne containers. Given the damage we are however fortunate that the injuries and loss of life was not greater.”
The South Auckland freight hub is partly operated by Conlinxx and its chief executive Darcy Hart told One News it’s difficult to say when full operations at the site will be back up and running.
More than 100 full and empty containers were scattered in the wild weather event.
“I’ve never seen anything of this magnitude and I don’t think anybody has … I don’t think we’ve seen anything like this in New Zealand’s port histories that have seen so many full containers devastated across a long part of an area,” Hart says.
Along with the devastation at the freight hub, around 240 houses in Papatoetoe were damaged and including 60 or more that were left uninhabitable.
“Really impressed with the resilience of those affected and the community spirit of helping each other,” Goff said.
*A Givealittle page has been set up for Prasad.
