Storm has more power to unleash
Violent weather claims life of ‘special’ woman. By Jacques Steenkamp and Hannah Martin.
Messages of condolence were last night pouring in for a woman killed in a freak accident during this weekend’s summer storm.
Trish Butterworth died at the scene after a 23-metre oak on the corner of Arawa and Amohia streets in Rotorua fell, trapping her in her car.
Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick said the death was a ‘‘tragic accident’’ and extended her condolences to Butterworth’s family.
‘‘It is too early to speculate on the circumstances of this tragic accident but I can assure you council will cooperate fully with any investigation undertaken by the relevant authorities,’’ she said.
Friends and family of Butterworth and her husband Keith left messages recalling their friend’s ‘‘loving heart and welcoming arms’’ on social media.
Brenda Fraser wrote: ‘‘Whaea Trish was a very special lady. I feel privileged to have been her friend and I will miss having non-judgmental and honest discussions with her about life’’. Amybeth Gutwein said Butterworth’s face would ‘‘light up’’ at the appearance of her much-loved husband.
A funeral service for Butterworth is expected to be held tomorrow or Tuesday.
Rotorua Lakes Council acting chief executive Craig Tiriana said a local tree specialist had raised concerns about the oak in recent months.
In February a report recommended annual inspections but found no major issues with the tree, which was more than 150 years old, he said. Another inspection was carried out by the council’s regular contractor late last year.
But locals have said it was only a matter of time before the ‘‘old’’ and ‘‘broken’’ tree came down, and they said complaints to council the had fallen on deaf ears.
Resident Anna White, who uses the intersection almost daily, said she had often wondered when the oak might fall.
She had seen wire ropes set up around the ‘‘precarious’’ tree in recent months.
‘‘If you asked any local about the tree they’d all know which one you were referring to – it didn’t take a tree specialist to be concerned.’’
MetService meteorologist Tom Bell said remnants of the deadly storm thrashed the country with strong winds yesterday, mainly concentrated around Cook Strait. It sparked flooding concerns on the Wellington coast in the morning, as a king tide combined with southerly gales. Gusts of up to 80kmh were recorded at the airport, and up to 140kmh on Mt Kaukau – the highest recording for the country.
In the Auckland suburb of Maraetai, residents were yesterday picking up the pieces after the destruction caused by Friday’s storm.
Sisters Tracey and Deb Laxon squelched across their late father’s sodden carpet, lamenting sewage and seawater that the storm had pushed into the family home. They said it would have broken their father’s heart to see it.
Coastal Maraetai, the Laxons’ family retreat for decades, was one of the suburbs worst hit by the storm.
The sisters arrived just in time to shift most furniture out of the downstairs living room and bedroom before high tide entered the house. The kitchen appliances were water-damaged, but the Laxons considered themselves lucky not to have lost anything of sentimental value.
Waves ‘‘smashed open the the front gates’’ despite strategically positioned wood and bricks, said Tracey.
‘‘It was the roughest I’ve ever seen . . . The wharf’s been smashed, I’ve never seen that in the 53 years I’ve been coming out here,’’ she said, adding that part of the wharf had floated past the house.
Tracey had headed out into the ‘‘brown mess’’ to man-handle massive logs threatening to bust through the doors’ glass.
The sisters’ father had retired there in 1985, building a house where the family bach had stood before. The 90-year-old died just three months ago.
Elsewhere, a truck was tipped off the road by strong winds near Waipapa Bay, about 20km north of Kaiko¯ ura, bringing State Highway 1 to a standstill yesterday afternoon. No one was injured.
Christchurch also got a battering, with Le Bons Bay on Banks Peninsula recording gusts of around 130kmh.
Those winds eased as a low tracked south of the country, and the weather was expected to be mostly fine today.
‘‘The winds are going to ease and it’s going to be a lot finer and less rainy than it has been in the past few days,’’ said Bell.
However, another front was approaching the far south of the South Island today and was expected to bring rain to that area this evening. And a trough was forecast to bring further heavy rain to coastal Bay of Plenty and the Coromandel Peninsula, which are still recovering from this week’s deluge.
Tomorrow is expected to be mainly fine for the North Island, with a few showers about the ranges. The South Island could see rain in western areas, and cloud and isolated showers elsewhere. On Tuesday that rain would spread to the North Island.
Additional reporting: Amanda Saxton and Harrison Christian