Albany tornado around 200km/h

Metservice has confirmed there is a slim risk of more tornadoes this evening as a storm system passes over the upper North Island.

However, it says any more tornadoes will be smaller than the one that devastated buildings and killed one person in Albany this afternoon.

North Shore Hospital spokesman Paul Patton said 20 injured were due to arrive at the hospital with another two being sent to Auckland Hospital.

Manley said at least 14 were injured in today's tornado which had winds averaging 200km/h, forecasters says.

A North Shore police spokesman said emergency services were busy fielding calls from the public with reports of damage to homes and cars.

Witnesses reported cars with people inside being tossed across carparks when the tornado ripped through the suburb of Albany like a freight train about 3pm.

It was earlier reported that two had died, but it was later said there had been confusion in the immediate chaos.

An Auckland Council spokeswoman said it has activated its emergency co-ordination centre, based in the city's cbd.

The spokeswoman said Civil Defence staff were heading to the North Shore to evaluate the scene.

A spokesman for Auckland Mayor Len Brown said he was with councillors attending meetings this afternoon.

''He knows of the tornado and is aware of the reports of multiple injuries and is being kept briefed on the situation.

Most tornadoes take place in Autumn and Spring, and we thought there was the possibility of flash flooding with the weather today, but this has gone one step ahead with the rotation of the air.

"They are very hard to predict and the weather in today's situations can go from heavy downpour to light showers in a matter of minutes. But today did have perfect conditions for a tornado with the storms and all this unstable air swirling about.