Wintry storm batters New Zealand: What you need to know

Tuesday, 10 April 2018

A severe early winter storm has brought snow, heavy rain and tornados to swathes of the country through Tuesday and into Wednesday, causing travel chaos, damaging homes and leaving thousands of people without power.

Have you been hit by the wintry weather? Send your newstips, photos and video to newstips@stuff.co.nz

**READ MORE:

* Live: The storm hits NZ

* National Park hit by tornado

* In pictures: Storm blasts NZ

* Truckie hit by Taranaki twister**

THE WEATHER WE'VE FACED

- Heavy rain and wind gusts from 100-140kmh hit parts of Auckland on Tuesday night.

- MetService recorded a 213kmh gust at an exposed weather station at Manukau Heads.

Auckland was hit by a major storm overnight. The winds brought down trees and cut power to about 100,000 customers. Auckland Transport is urging drivers stay home if they can, as many traffic lights are out across the city.

- Niwa recorded a gust of 146kmh on the Sky Tower in Auckland.

JUST CONFIRMED: our climate station (elevation 318 m) on the Sky Tower in Auckland recorded a peak gust of 146.16 km/h at 9:20 pm Tuesday 🌬️

A wind gust of this magnitude is typical of a category 2 tropical cyclone. pic.twitter.com/Cb3JIYopgT

— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) April 10, 2018

- A gust of around 142kmh at Mt Kaukau was recorded in Wellington.

- Snow has fallen across much of the South Island and down to 500 metres on the North Island Central Plateau.

- Temperatures dropped to freezing in some parts of Canterbury on Wednesday morning.

- On Tuesday a tornado ripped through coastal towns in Taranaki, felling trees and bringing off roofs.

- Another tornado destroyed six homes in National Park Village, Ruapehu.

Scafolding collapsed at a building site in Hobsonville Point after a storm ripped through Auckland.

- Heavy storm conditions in Taranaki caused significant damage.

POWER OUTAGES

- Around a quarter of properties in the Auckland region were without power on Wednesday morning.

- Authorities were working to restore power for up to 120,000 homes and businesses across the city.

- At 2pm Vector said 93,000 homes were still affected, and power had been restored to 90,000.

- Power was cut to more than 12,000 properties across Taranaki on Tuesday morning. Power is still out to around 3400 properties throughout the region on Wednesday morning.

- It may be several days until power is restored in some areas, Vector said.

ROAD CLOSURES/WARNINGS

- Auckland Transport is warning motorists to only travel if they have to.

- Traffic is very heavy in Auckland, and at a standstill in places.

- There are traffic lights, motorway signage and traffic cameras not working because of power outages in Auckland and there may be surface flooding and storm debris on the roads.

- NZTA says all Auckland motorways are open.

- The Desert Rd has reopened after closing overnight due to snow and ice. NZTA is warning drivers to be vigilant of the wintery conditions.

- A 3.21pm update from Auckland Transport:

West Auckland

Woodside Road in Massey has one lane open.

North Auckland

No known issues.

The gusts that struck Auckland were the equivalent of a Category 2 cyclone, and caused widespread damage.

Central Auckland

Richardson Road is CLOSED between Owairaka Avenue and Hendon Avenue in Mt Roskill.

Maskell Street in St Heliers is partially blocked.

Temple Street in Meadowbank is CLOSED.

Trafalgar Street is CLOSED between Queenstown Street and Pleasant Street in Onehunga.

A truck drives through heavy snow at the top of Porters Pass, in the Canterbury region.

Pilkington Road is CLOSED between Torino Street and Tripoli Road in Mt Wellington.

East Auckland

Penrose Road is down to one lane between Bailey Road and Leonard Road in Mt Wellington.

South Auckland

The corner of Marne Road and Settlement Road in Papakura is partially blocked.

Trees down in Hepburn Rd, Grey Lynn after Auckland faced hurricane force gusts.

McCullough Avenue is CLOSED between Grange Road South and Laurenston Avenue in Papatoetoe.

Adams Drive is CLOSED near Keith Place in Pukekohe.

Boiler Gully Road is CLOSED near Manukau Heads Road in Awhitu.

From NZTA:

Debris litters roads around the National Park Village on the North Island.

- SH26 between Paeroa and Thames has a stop/go operation in place because of a major industrial fire.

- SH6 Ross to Haast, strong winds, care needed for caravans, campervans, high-sided vehicles and motorcycles.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

- All Auckland lines now are operating to the published timetables. Auckland transport at 2.10pm.

- Auckland ferry services are operating with the exception of Northcote Point.

A herd of cows huddle together in the snow west of Springfield on Tuesday.

- Auckland bus services are operating but there may be delays because of debris on the roads.

FLIGHTS

- Air New Zealand is experiencing significant disruption across its network on Wednesday.

- Customers are advised to consider deferring any non-urgent travel, while those that must travel today are advised to expect disruptions and to consult the airline's Arrivals and Departures page for the latest information.

- The airline's contact centre is currently experiencing extremely high call volumes. If travel is not urgent, customers are asked to please defer calling.

- Auckland Airport said several flights were affected on Wednesday. Passengers were asked to check with their airline, and allow extra time to travel to the airport.

- Overnight, weather closed the airport's runway for several hours, forcing several flights to be diverted.

SCHOOLS CLOSED

- Schools:

Ardmore School, Auckland; Henderson Valley, Auckland; Kowhai Intermediate, Auckland; Westlake Girls, Auckland; Dairy Flat School, Auckland; Mangere College, Auckland; Northcote Primary School, Auckland; St Leonards School, Auckland; Samoa Moni, Auckland; Kelston Boys High, Auckland; Waioneke School, Auckland; Sunnyvale School, Auckland; Riverhead School, Auckland; St Josephs Orakei, Auckland; Orautoha School, Taranaki; Rahotu School, Taranaki; Whatawhata School, Waikato; Matatoki School, Waikato; Hikuai School, Waikato; Tairua School, Waikato; Whenuakite School, Waikato.

- ECEs:

Le Malelega a le toelau, Auckland; Seedlings Nature Kindergarten, Taranaki; Maxwell, Taranaki; Merrilands, Taranaki; Waiouru, Taranaki; Little Hands Childcare, Auckland; Learning Steps Child Care Centre, Gt North Road, Auckland; New Shoots Early Child Care, Westgate, Auckland; Iona Child Care, Swanson, Auckland; Loving Care Kindergarten, Auckland; Magnolia Tree, Waikato; Creative Kids, Waikato; Whenuakite Country Kids, Waikato; Pauanui Preschool, Waikato; Kidz Unlimited Learning Centre, Mt Albert, Auckland.

CELLPHONE TOWERS OFFLINE

- Spark warns customers they may experience slower than usual mobile data connections.

- Some eftpos machines were reported to be out of action, and some ATMs were down.

- Widespread power outages meant 50 Spark cellphone towers around the country were offline on Wednesday morning, and more are running on battery power.

- A majority of the affected cellphone towers were in the greater Auckland area.

- Vodafone said about 70 sites in Auckland remained out on Wednesday morning.

- Broadband and landline customers in areas that experienced power outages may also experience a loss of service.

- Twenty-nine of ANZ's ATMs were down, as were 35 of BNZ's ATMs. Seven BNZ banks were also closed due to the power outage, and would likely remain closed for the rest of the day.

WHAT'S TO COME

- MetService issued heavy rain warnings on Wednesday for eastern Taranaki and the Whanganui hill country, and for the Hawke's Bay hill country west of Wairoa.

- There is a moderate thunderstorm risk for Northland and most of Auckland, coastal areas of Canterbury, Marlborough, Wellington, Wairarapa, southern Taranaki, Whanganui, coastal areas of Hawke's Bay and Gisborne.

- Overnight Thursday, there's a risk of severe gales for Northland, Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula and Waikato.