Former cyclone Gita crosses New Zealand, leaving destruction in its wake

Wednesday, 21 February 2018

The storm has left State Highway 60 resembling more of a river than road.

The east coast of the South Island was taking the last hit from former cyclone Gita on Wednesday morning, after the weather system had crossed over the top of the South Island.

By 5am Gita was to the east of Banks Peninsula, after crossing the country during the early hours of the morning, and due to continue moving away to the southeast.

'Really the heavy rain now is focused from Canterbury down to Otago this morning, then that gradually eases,' MetService meteorologist Karl Loots said.

Cloud covers the South Island from Canterbury down, while former cyclone Gita lies off to the east of Banks Peninsula in this MetService satellite infrared image from 6am Wednesday.

'As well, we've still got gale force winds about Banks Peninsula and other exposed places in Canterbury. That's all easing during the morning. The worst impacts for most have past,' Loots said about 5am Wednesday.

**READ MORE:

Big swell and high wind from cyclone Gita battered Taranaki on Tuesday, smashing fishing boats moored inside the breakwater.

* Live: Ex-Tropical Cyclone Gita lashes New Zealand with wind, rain

* Tourists spend the night in Westland as gale-force winds strike

State Highway 1 was flooded north of Kaikōura.

* State of emergency declared in Nelson Tasman District**

'All the focus now is really in Canterbury, down to the northern parts of Southland and into Clutha, for the next six hours.'

Gita brought wind gusts up to 140kmh to several places, including the Rimutaka Range, Hawera, exposed places in the Wairarapa, and Buller. At Kelburn in Wellington, gusts reached 120kmh.

In the 24 hours to 5am numerous weather stations in the Canterbury High Country had more than 100mm of rain, while the heaviest falls on Banks Peninsula varied from 80mm to more than 100mm. Christchurch Airport had 60mm, Ashburton 90mm and Timaru 82mm.

Fire and Emergency had more than 400 weather-related calls between 2pm Tuesday and 5am Wednesday, although only 15 of those were after midnight.

Taranaki, Tasman and the West Coast were the busiest parts of the country, spokesman Joss Debreceny said. Most common callouts included lifting roofs, trees and power lines down, and flooding of houses and businesses.

The workload was expected to pick up again once it became light.

During the storm, states of emergency were declared in Taranaki region, Nelson Tasman region, Selwyn district, Grey district, Buller district, Westland district and Christchurch city.

Early Wednesday State Highway 1 was closed north of Wellington between Paekakariki and Pukerua Bay. It was shut around 12.30am when the high tide was washing across both lanes, causing damage to the road. By 7am one lane had been reopened.