Families endure whiteout, blackout
The Gordon family and their neighbours in Taihape’s Pukeokahu Rd were invited to a midwinter Christmas party at River Valley Lodge on Saturday night.
They never made it — instead a white Christmas came to them.
In what Powerco describes as “the worst snowstorm in the region since 2002”, Shona and Fraser Gordon were snowed in, couldn’t get the few kilometres up the road to the party and couldn’t contact their hosts to tell them they wouldn’t be there.
They were among 10,000 people across the lower North Island who lost their power supply, and yesterday were among the 311 properties in the Taihape area still without power.
They had prior warning and last week’s heavy snow has not been a great problem for them. It was more serious for others.
A house burned down at Bald Hills, 40km away in Turakina Valley Rd where there was no power, with suspicions the fire may have been started by a candle.
Higher up, the covered yards at Mangaohane Station collapsed under the weight of snow and the drifts there still measure in metres.
The roof on one of the Gordons’ neighbours’ car shed also collapsed under the weight of snow, damaging vehicles.
The Gordons, who started a generator they hadn’t used in four years, have been five days without normal power.
There are power poles and lines down across the Taihape hill country, with some hard to access. The Gordons don’t think they will have power back on in the next few days.
They are using the generator to chill the freezer down for two hours a day, pump water into the house, heat water and run a few lights. Dinner is cooked on the wood- burner in the only warm room in their 1908 wooden villa.
They’re also using the generator to charge cellphones, their only means of communication since snow brought down the phone lines.
“We feel like pioneers — it takes all day to cook on the fire,” Shona Gordon said.
She and her husband have a 630ha sheep and beef farm and they were able to move all the stock before the snow hit.
Down the road at the home of the Gordons’ daughter Kristin and sonin-law Mathew Churchward another party was spoiled. Daughter Maisie turned 4 on July 13, the day of the big snow. Her birthday food had to be cooked outdoors on a barbecue, the guests couldn’t make it and the snow was up to her waist.
The Churchwards’ house is freshly insulated and their neighbour Trevor Brown has loaned them a generator. They’re doing a minimum of farm work, and Kristin Churchward is expecting a midwife to visit her and 3-week-old baby Grace.
Nobody is willing to guess when the power will be back on.