Cars crunched by wind
Strong winds in Manawatu¯ have caused widespread power outages and wrecked cars.
As well as cutting power, the winds brought down trees around the city, including at Massey University, where cars were damaged.
Two cars in the refectory car park were crushed by a falling tree about 2pm on Sunday. Both were written off. Another car received extensive damage, while another has relatively minor damage. All of the cars belonged to students from university halls of residence.
Massey spokesman James Gardiner said the university was assessing other trees around the campus and taking down branches at risk of falling in strong winds.
Metservice meteorologist Gerrit Heyser said the strongest winds were at 4pm on Sunday, with gusts reaching 85kmh.
Although spring was a typically windy season, Heyser said the average speed of 55kmh throughout the day was ‘‘on the higher side of what is expected’’ for this time of year. The high winds also took out power for more than 1500 Manawatu¯ homes. Powerco spent yesterday reconnecting power to the final few houses left in the dark.
Powerco network operations manager Phil Marsh said trees had damaged powerlines throughout the region and the trees needed to be cleared first.
Tiakitahuna resident Helen Luke lost power at 12.30pm on Sunday. The house still did not have power on yesterday afternoon.
There were also widespread power outages in Rongotea.