Wild wind, downpours cause havoc
Flights grounded and diverted, ferries delayed, trees and power poles felled, and waves of seawater crashing on cars are among the problems created by severe weather buffeting parts of the country.
High winds and heavy rain have put a halt to the start of summer, with the lower North Island and parts of the South Island among those areas most in the firing line. Some highways were forced to close yesterday.
Wa¯ naka woman Kim Robertson was patiently waiting for a flight to Singapore as mass cancellations affected domestic flights in Wellington. Robertson was uneasy as she waited for news yesterday.
‘‘At the moment, it’s a bit uncertain. It may be cancelled or it might not. I’ll just play the waiting game. I’m just going home for Christmas . . . I’m a little nervous. At the moment, I am trying not to think about it,’’ she laughed.
But unfortunately, since Stuff spoke to her, Robertson’s plans were likely to change with news that the inbound Singapore Airlines flight had been diverted to Christchurch.
Mass cancellations caused havoc with flight schedules in and out of Wellington Airport, prompting a request from Air New Zealand for passengers to defer non-urgent travel.
The departures and arrivals board was awash with cancellations, leaving much of the capital city’s usually bustling airport uncharacteristically quiet.
While extra services had been put on last night to accommodate disrupted customers, many passengers were forced to wait it out at the airport until the galeforce winds eased.
Among those caught up in the flight mayhem were the Wellington under-19 cricket team members, who had their original flight to Christchurch cancelled.
They said they would play cards and drink ‘‘a few coffees’’ to pass the time.
‘‘Our flight was supposed to go out at 10 o’clock today, but we’ve been delayed. Not too sure when we’re going out today, probably between the 3.30pm and 5.30pm flight, so we’ve just got to wait around until then,’’ team member Cole Kennedy said.
‘‘We have a match tomorrow, so if we can’t get out tonight it’s going to be a bit of a hassle.’’
The storm also forced Metlink to restrict or cancel some of its Wellington ferry crossings. While Interislander ferries were still operating, high winds were causing berthing delays in Picton.
Metservice meteorologist Tahlia Crabtree said wind gusts had reached 105kmh at Wellington Airport yesterday and 137kmh at the top of Mt Kaukau.
As well as Wellington, Nelson and the Canterbury high country also had warnings in place for strong winds.
‘‘Immense amounts of rain’’ were hitting western and northern parts of the South Island, forcing a number of highways to close, the New Zealand Transport Agency said. Roads in Golden Bay were hit by flooding.