Icy blast packs tornados, rain and snow
Cook Strait ferries are cancelled, with no let-up forecast for the storm that has caused two damaging tornados and dumped snow.
In National Park one house was partially destroyed, while five more were badly damaged. In the coastal Taranaki settlement of Rahotu a tornado damaged eight homes.
Ruapehu District Council chief executive Clive Manley said one unoccupied house had been destroyed. There was structural damage to several properties.
An elderly couple in one of the houses have been evacuated as their house was uninhabitable. They were not injured.
In Taranaki, the storm closed roads, schools, the airport and cut power to more than 12,000 properties. About 4000 properties were still without power at 2.30pm.
A trough bringing strong winds, thunderstorms, heavy rain and possible damaging tornados moved east across the North Island late yesterday morning into the early afternoon. Snow and heavy rain have been falling over swathes of the country.
More than 200 lightning strikes and winds measuring 122kmh hit Auckland as severe thunder- storms battered the upper North Island. MetService duty meteorologist Tom Adams confirmed the severe thunderstorm watch had been lifted as of 1.25pm.
On the West Coast lifting shed roof iron caused the closure of State Highway 67 between Westport and Karamea near Garveys Rd.
The MetService warned of snow, possibly as low as 300 metres in parts of Canterbury, along with heavy snow in the Kaiko¯ura Ranges and Canterbury Plains and High Country, as well as in Otago, Southland and Fiordland.
Road snow warnings have been issued for the high passes in the South Island, for the main highway from Dunedin to Waitati, and for the Desert Road in the North Island.
Early yesterday, the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) said Porters Pass on State Highway 73 in Canterbury was closed to towing vehicles because of snow, and chains were essential for other vehicles. It reopened to all vehicles in the afternoon.
NZTA warned of strong winds on SH6 from Ross to Haast on the West Coast.
Drivers in the central North Island were warned to be prepared for winter-like conditions over the next 24 hours.