Covid hell, and now high water
Huge waves rip up concrete and smash windows on the south coast of Wellington
Owhiro Bay residents are waking up to a major cleaning job after a battle with ocean tides left several residents facing extensive home repairs.
Huge waves ripped up concrete and smashed windows on the south coast of Wellington in the largest tides in recent memory.
One resident out for a morning stroll yesterday was swept out to sea by the pure force of the tide, suffering mild injuries. Five homes were damaged, forcing 15 residents to evacuate.
As of last night, police said residents of four homes were still unable to return to their houses.
The bizarrely aggressive conditions struck on what was otherwise a calm, sunny day with mild winds.
The unusually powerful waves were driven by a deep low out to the southeast of the South Island, which pushed up a big surge of water that gained energy and intensity as it rushed up the country. The swells started to hit Wellington’s shores about 8.30am and peaked almost simultaneously with the 11am high tide. With tide heights already elevated on the back of several king tides in recent days, the combined forces were devastating.
When combined with a deep lowpressure system and strong winds, this increased the risk for coastal erosion and flooding along exposed coastlines, Niwa forecaster Ben Noll said.
MetService said the high swells were expected to travel north up the country and may have some impact on Hawke’s Bay. Swells were expected to reduce considerably to below 3 metres in Wellington today.
Logs the size of tree trunks were spat up onto the road. The side of the O¯ whiro Stream bridge was wiped out. A 2-metre long chunk of footpath was torn clean out of the ground.
At the home that bore the greatest brunt, a concrete fence cracked, and the front wall was pounded in on itself, spilling broken glass and debris throughout the room. Garage doors at several neighbouring properties were smashed in.
Police said a shipping container was reported floating offshore of the bay at 10.15am.
Power and internet were cut off to the area after a smoking fuse box on Happy Valley Rd was discovered.
O¯ whiro Bay resident Catherine Skinner said some houses on the street looked like they had been hit by shrapnel from all the broken windows.
She had been out walking about 9.15am and was caught by a wave that
washed over the street and up to knee level.
‘‘The community is really looking after each other,’’ she said. ‘‘We’ve all been out and checked on each other, some of them helped to sweep debris off the road.’’
Lowry Bay resident Hayley White said the swells were an exciting start to her kids’ first day back at school.
Removing the tossed-up debris in her driveway would give her something to do during the lockdown, she said.
At their peak, the swells were 14 metres high, according to a measurement device offshore of Canterbury’s Banks Peninsula, MetService meteorologist Gerald Bellan said.
A similar device at the mouth of Wellington Harbour appeared to malfunction, but the power of the swell was evident by the number of roads the water overwhelmed throughout the region.
At Lyall Bay, swells crashed as high as 10m over the sea wall, and at Days Bay, swells were so powerful they covered the coastal road and pulled mats for wheelchair users off their stakes.
Police received one report of debris being washed away in Eastbourne.
Despite facing north, Seatoun and Breaker Bay also experienced surfable swells.
Police said a small number of people had gone surfing on the south coast. A police spokeswoman said officers encouraged them to get out of the water, and spoke with them to remind them that surfing was not an appropriate outdoor activity given the current restrictions.
A Coastguard New Zealand spokeswoman said the Health Ministry’s definition of recreation and exercise did not involve swimming and waterbased activities such as surfing, which may require search and rescue services.