Cyclone overblown? Not for everyone

Aucklanders may think the threat of Cyclone Cook was overblown — but those caught in the storm’s path had little doubt they’d been hit by a big one.

Upper- scale warnings had Auckland potentially facing between 150mm and 250mm of rain and gusts of more than 120km/ h.

Transport officials warned the Auckland Harbour bridge could be closed by high winds, while the University of Auckland closed its doors early and hundreds of businesses allowed their staff to go home before the expected late afternoon arrival of the cyclone.

But the downpours failed to materialise in some areas as Cook tracked slightly east, missing Auckland, Waikato and Coromandel, and hitting land between Tauranga and Whakatane after 6pm.

Even there, the downpour was much less severe than feared — Bay of Plenty authorities called the 25mm that fell over an hour unexpectedly light — and winds also fell well short of the 150km/ h gales predicted.

Earlier on Thursday, forecasters were warning Cook could be in the same league as ex- Tropical Cyclone Giselle in 1968, which hit the whole country and resulted in the fatal Wahine ferry disaster.

But if the storm was slightly larger or tracked a little more west, the destruction could have been bad, which was why the MetService sent out warnings, MetService meteorologist Nick Zacher said.

“Thankfully Auckland seemed to dodge the bullet.”

Civil Defence director Sarah Stuart- Black yesterday said although the cyclone had not had the impact feared it was still a dangerous event.

“Because people took from those precautionary messages, the impact from the storm is less likely to have been what it could have been,” she said.

“So we are really pleased. We should never underestimate the potential severity of events like this.”

And there was much to show that Cook was still a major weather event.

Thousands of homes across Bay of Plenty and Hawke’s Bay were left without power, while emergency services received dozens of calls about homes flooding, and powerlines and trees brought down in the Thames- Coromandel District, Matamata, Tauranga and Whakatane.