"We had three gazebos and the only reason they didn't fly away was because we were holding onto them," he said. "They all were all pegged down properly with ropes and pegs but the wind just lifted them straight out of the ground. "At one stage one of the gazebos had lifted straight up off the ground about 1m in the air and we had to jump up and grab it." Mr Nielson said the worst of the storm only lasted about 10 minutes, but the rain was so heavy he could hardly see a few metres in front of him.