Army to the rescue in freezing central North Island
Taihape
Farm workers at a large station in the central North Island were snowed in without power and battling -9C temperatures yesterday. “It’s pretty bleak. It’s snowing quite hard. Nobody is working,” general hand Michael Turfrey said from Ohinewairua Station, 30km north of Taihape. He and his wife Mel, as well as another worker, were keeping warm with a camp fire at the cookhouse on the station after losing power about 9am. Snow had been falling steadily since Tuesday night and the outside temperature was heading for -9C. “It’s bloody cold,” said Turfrey, adding the roads to the station were closed off and the six staff were expecting to be snowed in until today.
Wellington
A Wellington family is lucky to be alive after a clifftop tree snapped and sliced through their house on Marine Parade in Seatoun. Andy Taylor said the plummeting pine “crashed in through the top of the house, through my daughter’s bedroom, through the bathroom, through to our bedroom at the front.” Luckily his daughter Isabell, 9, and wife Claire were in another room at the time. The Taylors are staying with friends while the damage is assessed.
Hawke’s Bay
Dozens were stranded on the snowed-in Napier-Taupo Rd yesterday, with some truckies refusing to leave with rescuers. Around 20 motorists broke into a nearby Te Haroto house and set the fire to escape the cold. Bemused owner Jim Andrew told Fairfax he didn’t mind that too much but resented the muddy bootprints all over the brand new carpet. He still helped them get to Te Pohue though.
Auckland
Stormy seas in the Hauraki Gulf stranded about 18 people on Tiritiri Matangi Island. The visitors’ ferry was cancelled yesterday and they had to stay an extra night in the Department of Conservation bunkhouse on the island, a wildlife sanctuary close to the tip of the Whangaparaoa peninsula. “It’s extremely windy and big seas are running — too big for the ferry to come and too big for the water taxis to get over here too,” said Barry Fraser. He and his family were rationing their food as they settled in for a second night. “We are looking at what people have left in the freezer. There’s not a great deal here. We are not going to starve: the shop sells chocolate and we have plenty to drink.”
Rotorua
Mamaku residents who woke to a blanket of snow covering the town have described it as the heaviest dumping in years. For some it was a special occasion — seeing snow for the first time. Miritana Hughes said his fiancee, Australian Natalia Belovakovic, had never seen snow before. “This morning we woke up and my niece ran in and said ‘It’s snowing’. We thought she was tricking us but we looked out and it was crazy. A field of white.”
This morning we woke up and my niece ran in and said ‘It’s snowing’. We thought she was tricking us but we looked out and it was crazy. A field of white. Miritana Hughes, Mamaku resident