Air traffic halted in Auckland, after day of destructive storms
Tuesday, 10 April 2018
New Zealand is in for another stormy night, with chilly temperatures and potentially damaging wind gusts pummelling the North Island.
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Air operations had been halted at Auckland Airport about 9pm, and Airways spokeswoman Emily Davies said eight flights had been diverted.
'I understand they've halted operations and they'll be holding aircraft for a while,' she said.
**READ MORE:
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* Footage shows truck hit by storm
* In pictures: April storm sweeps over country
* National Park hit by tornado
* Silence fell before tornado destroyed coastal Taranaki town
* Aucklanders warned of thunderstorms, gale-force winds**
'It's up to the pilot whether they choose to divert or choose to hold, until the weather clears to a point where it's safe to land.'
Davies said 60 knot wind gusts – about 110kmh – were recorded on the runway.
'That's very, very strong winds.'
An airport spokeswoman said there was debris on the runway and it had closed completely.
Meanwhile, a woman suffered moderate injuries in Kingsland after a tree came down on her car, trapping her inside.
A police officer at the scene said she had been taken to hospital.
Energy company Vector's website was showing more than 20 unplanned power outages across Auckland on Tuesday night.
Spokeswoman Murielle Baker said 15,000 people were without power.
They were mostly centred in the west and northwest of the region.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand said it had received 'dozens' of calls about trees falling onto roads, power lines and homes throughout Auckland.
Its northern communication centre was dealing with more than 170 calls in Auckland and the wider upper North Island area.
A tree had fallen through the roof of a house in Stanley Point, and another had fallen through the roof of a home in Birkdale, a spokeswoman said.
'A tree has taken out power lines on West Coast Road in Waiatarua. There are also reports of flooding in parts of Coromandel.
'Meanwhile, fire crews are also dealing with a massive blaze at a mill in the Thames-Coromandel district.'
About 20 fire trucks were responding to that fire, including crews from Thames, Ngatea and the Bay of Plenty, the spokeswoman said.
Earlier, NIWA said there was a chance severe wind gusts of up to 110 kmh could hit across the Auckland region between 7 and 11pm on Tuesday evening.
Wellington residents were also advised to batten down the hatches as well as the early winter storm rips through the country.
Meanwhile, MetService was predicting low temperatures across the country.
Auckland is expecting 9-14 degrees, Wellington is likely to get 8-13 degrees and Christchurch will be as low as 3 degrees.
Parts of New Zealand aren't out of the woods on Wednesday, either.
Taranaki, Whanganui and Taihape have heavy rain warnings in place, with heavy rain of up to 25mm per hour possible on Wednesday.
LIGHTNING, TORNADOS AND SNOW
It comes after a day when more than 200 lightning strikes and winds measuring 122kmh have hit Auckland.
A trough bringing strong winds, thunderstorms, heavy rain and possible damaging tornados was moving east across the North Island late Tuesday morning into the early afternoon.
Snow and heavy rain have been falling over swathes of the country, while tornados have been reported in the central North Island.
Roofs have been ripped off with tornados reported in Taranaki and National Park, with six houses destroyed and one truckie capturing the dramatic action when his vehicle was battered by a twister.
Woes for some Taranaki residents were likely to continue overnight.
At 2.30pm on Tuesday there were still 4360 properties in Taranaki without power. With the severe weather forecast for the rest of the evening it was likely a number of consumers would remain without power overnight.
Thunderstorms had already caused 6000 strikes in one hour in the region, MetService meteorologist Tom Adams said.
Gales were expected for much of the country on Tuesday. A low pressure system that would move across the upper North Island during the day, could bring gusts of 120kmh to Auckland, Waikato and Coromandel Peninsula during the evening, Adams said.
Already stormy weather had caused disruption to flights at Auckland Airport.
There is a risk of severe thunderstorms, with gusts to 120kmh and possibly with damaging tornados for all the top half of the North Island - as far south as Taranaki, Taihape and Hawke's Bay - during Tuesday afternoon, he said.
Gusts to 120kmh are also expected on Tuesday afternoon and into the night for Taranaki, Kapiti Coast, Wellington, Horowhenua and the Marlborough Sounds.
In Wellington the high winds would come with an increased swell in the harbour and Cook Strait ferries have been cancelled.
Severe southerly gales are expected to hit the capital later tonight.
TORNADOS HIT
Rick Field was driving his truck near Kaponga when worsening weather turned into a close encounter with a tornado.
When he saw power lines on the ground and trees snapping around him he began thinking where he could hide from the storm - but then the twister buffeted his truck.
After the twister passed by he said: 'I've never been so s….scared in my life'.
In National Park, a tornado destroyed six houses in the central North Island settlement.
Local resident Sarah Crump said it was the howling wind that caught her attention first.
But it was an approaching 'wall of water' that had her ducking for cover under her desk.
Trampolines flew past Crump's workplace at Plateau Lodge & Tongariro Crossing Shuttles in the town centre, and sheets of iron were flung through the air, hitting cars and power poles.
'I saw the wall of water and I thought, what is this s…?'
Mel Sorrensen was commuting to work from New Plymouth to Opunake when a tornado struck on Ngariki Road, Warea.
'I was talking to a farmer and he said the wind just picked up, went through the house and then it all went quiet.'
The twister ripped roofs off in the settlement of Rahotu.
Torrential rain, thunder and lightning had hit communities on the west coast south of New Plymouth. Heavy storm conditions in coastal Taranaki cut power to communities on Tuesday morning, with up to 12,000 properties blacked out.
On the South Island's West Coast lifting shed roof iron had caused the closure of State Highway 67 between Westport and Karamea near Garveys Rd.
SNOW BLANKETS ROADS
Earlier on Tuesday MetService warned of snow, possibly as low as 300 metres in parts of Canterbury, along with heavy snow in the Kaikōura Ranges and Canterbury Plains and High Country, as well as in Otago, Southland and Fiordland.
Road snow warnings have been issued for the high passes in the South Island, for the main highway from Dunedin to Waitati, and for overnight Tuesday on the Desert Road in the North Island.
Porters Pass, on State Highway 73 in Canterbury, had re-opened to all vehicles after earlier having restrictions due to snow.
NZTA warned of strong winds on SH6 from Ross to Haast on the South Island's West Coast.
Drivers travelling through the central North Island have been warned to take extra care on the roads and be prepared for winter-like conditions over the next 24 hours.
Severe gales, high winds, heavy rain warnings and road snowfall warnings would make travel hazardous, NZTA said.
'Extra crews are ready to respond to this weather event and the safety of all road users is our number one priority,' Transport Agency Journey Manager Liam Ryan said.