Storm kills as damage toll rises
A woman died after a falling tree crushed her car yesterday morning, leaving her trapped inside.
Fire crews rushed to free the woman but she died at the scene in Rotorua’s city centre, police said.
The storm, which was into its second day, caused widespread damage across much of the North Island and upper South Island. It is caused by a deep low that came out of the tropics, and around noon yesterday was centred west of Taranaki.
Auckland’s northern motorway was closed for a time yesterday morning after flooding closed southbound lanes, while parts of Tamaki Drive in Auckland were closed because of flooding, and seawater washed around low-lying houses.
State Highway 25 between Thames and Manaia was closed because of slips and rock falls, and SH 1 north and south of Kaiko¯ura was closed.
In Auckland’s Milford Marina, boats were overturned, streets and properties in Thames were flooded by the sea, and people in low-lying parts of the Firth of Thames were told to evacuate urgently.
Caravans at a camping ground at Kaiaua, on the western side of the Firth of Thames, were surrounded by seawater.
At Algies Bay, north of Auckland, high winds and tides ripped boats off moorings and crashed them against the rocks.
Harsh winds and rain also caused some 12,000 Auckland homes to wake up with no power yesterday morning. By noon, many houses had their power restored, but thousands were still cut off, Vector spokesperson Matthew Britton said.
In Christchurch, heavy rain caused surface flooding and closed roads, while the rising Heathcote River flooded properties and streets.
MetService meteorologist April Clark said that while some areas were getting heavy rain, the main issue yesterday was the prolonged strong winds being felt in many parts of the upper North Island. ‘‘They still have strong winds tomorrow, but really into the evening is when the worst of those gusts are expected to ease.’’
The highest wind gust recorded was a gust of 161kmh at an elevated weather radar at Kaeo in Northland at 7pm Thursday. Yesterday a gust of 113kmh was recorded at the Hokianga Harbour, also in Northland.
In Rotorua, a gust of 124kmh was recorded at another elevated radar site, while at Rotorua Airport a gust was measured at 89kmh.
‘‘It’s been pretty consistent since early this morning,’’ Clark said about noon yesterday. The strong winds had been prolonged and widespread and many places would have received gusts around 80-90kmh.
‘‘For places like Ka¯piti and Wellington, it’s more when the southerly comes through tonight, that they’ll get the strongest winds ... that’s going to be really strong.’’ It could mean problems with coastal flooding for the Wellington south coast and the area around Eastbourne, while the strong southerlies could also affect the Kaiko¯ura Coast.
Early yesterday, the heavy rain band, which pushed over much of the North Island on Thursday, had mostly affected the Tararua Range, Marlborough and Nelson. During yesterday afternoon, the MetService was expecting the heaviest rain to be in Tongariro National Park, Mt Taranaki, Marlborough including the Kaiko¯ura Coast, and the Bay of Plenty from Opotiki eastwards. Parts of Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty and northern Gisborne had 100-150mm of rain in the 24 hours to early yesterday. Rotorua Airport recorded about 100mm and parts of Auckland and Northland had 50-80mm.