Winds cause havoc

Wild winds of more than 100 kilometres per hour left Taranaki properties without power, closed a school, cancelled flights and saw the fire service tending to calls almost all day.

Monday night’s winds reached up to 104kmh in New Plymouth and Hawera, and saw a strong wind warning put in place for all day yesterday, with a warning of southeast gales having the potential to reach 120kmh.

MetService meteorologist John Law said at its peak the wind speed reached 102kmh at the New Plymouth Airport around 8am yesterday.

New Plymouth Fire and Emergency senior station officer Keith Murphy said the service attended around 20 calls about roofs lifting, multiple calls about downed power lines and trees, and a ‘‘few runaway trampolines’’. A tree fell on a house on Ruskin Pl, Westown, and staff went back to help with minor repairs later on in the day.

Around 900 properties all over Taranaki were still without power at 5.30pm yesterday following the wild weather.

Multiple power cuts earlier in the day affected around 2000 people in New Plymouth and coastal Taranaki. The electricity was also cut off at Westown Primary School, where parents were called to collect their children.

According to the New Plymouth Airport website all flights in and out of New Plymouth yesterday, bar two, were cancelled.