Auckland gales cut power, cause chaos
The worst of the winds were over but thousands of Auckland homes were left without power yesterday, and some may be for days.
Auckland was battered by ‘‘phenomenally gusty’’ winds and heavy rain on Tuesday night. Gusts reached 100-150kmh across central Auckland, peaking at 213kmh at Manukau Heads.
More than 120,000 homes were without power yesterday morning – a quarter of Auckland’s homes – but crews cut that to 93,000.
Damage to the network was ‘‘extensive’’ and widespread, and it could be several days before power was restored to some areas, power supplier Vector said.
Aucklanders were warned to drive only if they had to yesterday, with debris and trees littering roads and multiple traffic lights, motorway signage and traffic cameras not working.
At the airport, customers were advised to defer any non-urgent travel with disruptions expected, an Air NZ spokesperson said.
The gales also tore roofs off houses. In at least one case a tree fell on to a car with a woman inside. Among the most spectacular casualties, a three-storey building site collapsed in Hobsonville.
Vector said there were more than 400 power outages across the Auckland region, with more than 93,000 affected as of 2pm.
Fire and Emergency said it had been ‘‘flooded’’ with emergency calls, with 1611 made throughout the country between 6pm Tuesday and 9am on Wednesday.
A number of West Auckland schools were closed, along with public swimming pools and Auckland Zoo.
Telecommunications were also affected. A Spark spokeswoman said although the network had not sustained any physical damage from the storm, the widespread power outages meant 50 Spark cellphone towers around the country were offline, and more were running on battery power.
Vodafone head of technology operations Ian Hooker said about 70 sites were out in Auckland yesterday morning.
Strong winds caused difficulties for firefighters at a major industrial blaze at the Kopu industrial complex, near Thames.
The alarm was raised about 9.20pm on Tuesday, and there were multiple large fires at the complex, burning in timber, recycled material, wood shavings, and bark material.
The southerly storm also brought snow to many parts of the country. Snow closed the Desert Road, between Rangipo and Waiouru through the central North Island.
Guilty of murder
A Napier teenager pleaded guilty to murdering Sandeep Dhiman, in the High Court at Napier on Wednesday. Shaun Karauria, 17, also pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm, and robbing Dhiman of his car and cellphone, on December 18. Karauria will be sentenced in May. The facts of the case have been suppressed with a 17-year-old girl still facing a charge of murder. Dhiman’s body was found in a roadside ditch on his 31st birthday. The IT worker was employed by Chorus and came to New Zealand in 2015.
Health chiefs in doubt
Counties Manukau District Health Board acting chairman Rabin Rabindran’s position may be in doubt. Health Minister David Clark said on Wednesday he had written to Rabindran and one other board member and was awaiting their response. Among problems plaguing Middlemore Hospital are toxic mould and sewage leaks. Rabindran was appointed in December after Lester Levy resigned as chairman of all three Auckland DHBs.
Midwifery collaboration
A new maternity programme to address pressures on midwifery has been announced by the Ministry of Health and the New Zealand College of Midwives. The ministry’s acting director-general, Stephen McKernan, said the ministry had taken advice from the college. ‘‘Addressing workforce shortages and collaborating on a maternity programme that delivers a sustainable midwifery model of care has guided discussions,’’ he said. NZ College of Midwives chief executive Karen Guilliland said: ‘‘The college and the ministry agree a midwifery continuity of care model must be resourced effectively to provide support during pregnancy, labour and birth and through the postnatal period until the baby is 6 weeks old. I am also pleased that the issues raised by the current workforce shortage will be prioritised for resolution; for example, continuing to provide rural primary maternity service in all areas.’’ McKernan said the ministry was developing a memorandum of understanding with the college to facilitate future collaboration.