Heavy spring snow leaves 1436 homes without power
NEARLY 1500 households across the Wakatipu basin were left without power last night due to ‘‘extreme’’ weather conditions.
The spring snowfall brought both chaos and cheer to the Queenstown Lakes district and beyond.
About 15cm settled in some suburbs of Queenstown.
The heavy snow, which began early yesterday and continued until about noon, loaded tree branches, bringing some down on to power lines and others across roads.
Crews from lines company Aurora Energy battled ‘‘extreme conditions’’ throughout the day to restore power to 3000 properties.
But at 5.30pm yesterday, 1436 households were told to prepare ‘‘to be without power overnight’’.
‘‘Power will be restored as quickly as is safely possible but extreme conditions are hampering our response,’’ Aurora external relations adviser Karen Melville said.
‘‘The safety of the public and lines crews is of primary importance, so always keep well clear of fallen power lines or damaged electrical equipment and treat them as live at all times.’’
Ms Meville said yesterday evening crews were still on site in Arrowtown, Dalefield, Queenstown and Frankton.
They were working in treacherous offroad conditions where ‘‘tracks [were] hidden and very slippery’’.
Glenorchy Rd was closed from Bob’s Cove due to a fallen tree and damaged powerlines. It remained closed overnight. ‘‘Crew are still on the road clearing trees, but we’ve got plenty of dangerous trees still falling,’’ the Queenstown Lakes District Council said on Twitter.
An update is expected at 9am today.
All schools in the Queenstown Lakes district were closed for the day.
At least 16 arrivals were cancelled at Queenstown Airport.
Five flights landed and two more were due in the evening.
Seventeen departures were cancelled, four managed to fly out, and two more flights were due to leave.
Further afield, snow fell in both Manuherikia and Maniototo.
The Lindis Pass (State Highway 8) and the Haast Pass (SH6 Haast to Makarora) were both closed late in the morning but reopened in the afternoon.
The Milford Road (SH94) was closed due to avalanche risk.
The Mountain Safety Council (MSC) warned against backcountry travel in several South Island regions; it is not recommended today.
‘‘There’s a possibility this elevated danger rating, the secondhighest of the five danger scale ratings, could continue into the week and will depend on how the snowpack changes with the clearer weather,’’ MSC chief executive Mike Daisley said.
In Queenstown, Tucker Beach Rd was also blocked by a fallen tree, but many roads were passable, including the Crown Range.
The Remarkables, Coronet Peak, Cardrona and Treble Cone skifields were closed yesterday, but staff predicted ‘‘epic powder days’’ today and tomorrow, when the forecast is for better weather.
The Remarkables operations manager Michel Le Page said a helicopter with snow safety experts aboard would check heavy snow areas and remove avalanche hazards.
NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson said there were no plans to extend the season at The Remarkables and Coronet.
In Wanaka a white carpet lay on the streets for the morning, but was rapidly disappearing by midafternoon.
Lake Hawea and Luggate got a light coating, and Cardrona had no snow on the ground at all when the Otago Daily Times passed through midmorning.
MetService is predicting more snow next Monday. — Additional reporting Mark Price and Sean Nugent