A tornado has reportedly ripped through a Tauranga retirement village.

A caller to the Bay of Plenty Times said a tornado had ripped through a retirement village in Pyes Pa.

"Fences are down, a shed has gone walkabouts," she said.

"It's just blown up awful."

Metservice meteorologist Tom Adams said tornadoes were incredibly rare "but that's not to say it didn't happen".

Adams said he was not able to confirm the weather event via the Metservice network at this stage.

"More often than not, things named as tornadoes are actually strong gusts of wind or waterspouts."

However, the uplifting of the shed and downing of the fence did tie in with tornado behaviour, he said.

"There is a low risk of thunderstorms throughout the Bay of Plenty today. When you've got thunderstorms there is a risk of tornadoes," Adams said.