State of emergency lifted for Wellington coast as danger from big waves recedes

Tuesday, 9 June 2026

Residents will be allowed back into their homes and a state of emergency has lifted along Wellington’s south coast after warnings about huge swells prompted the evacuation of hundreds of homes.

Just after 5pm on Tuesday, the council released a statement from Wellington mayor Andrew Little that the danger had reduced sufficiently to lift the local state of emergency.

Little said there had been waves as high as 11 metres during the day, but they were not as frequent as MetService was predicting.

'I appreciate people will be concerned that a local state of emergency was called, the dangers predicted did not materialise, and people were caused inconvenience,“ he said.

An emergency alert had been sent urging residents in waterfront properties between Ōwhiro Bay and Breaker Bay to leave on Monday night “while it is safe”, ahead of the heavy swell. There was a mandatory evacuation from 9am on Tuesday for Ōwhiro Bay, Island Bay, Houghton Bay and Breaker Bay.

It was the second state of emergency for parts of the Wellington region in less than two months.

“For me, it comes down to the evidence and analysis,” Little said on Tuesday evening of the state of emergency being lifted.

“Yesterday the forecast was the south coast could be hit as hard again. And now the forecast has changed, so we’ve adjusted the response accordingly.

“Back in 2020 there were huge swells onto our south coast. Roads were ripped up. Cars and property were damaged. People had to be evacuated in the middle of the event. The message evacuated communities sent was needed to be more proactive in the future.”

There was always a review process after any state of emergency declaration, Little said.

Things were not fully back to normal, and there was still risk, he said.

“We have another heavy swell high tide from 9.45pm tonight to 1.45am tomorrow. We’ll be keeping a watch on that swell and if you’re near the south coast you should too,” Little said.

A MetService heavy swell warning remained in place for Wellington ‒ Cape Terawhiti to Turakirae Head ‒ until 3am Wednesday.

Hours earlier on Tuesday afternoon, residents were being warned to stay where they are if they had not evacuated in the morning, and were told that the state of emergency was due to last into Wednesday.

Resident Merril Thompson, who lives in the coast between Ōwhiro and Island bays, was one of the people who decided to stay put. On Tuesday morning she told The Post she was heading out to get supplies but had a sick cat at home so was not evacuating.

“Bugger with your rules,” she said.

It appeared authorities were being “over precautious” with safety, she said.

Ōwhiro Bay resident Eugene Doyle said Civil Defence had gone door-to-door on Monday night and most of the bay was emptied out by Tuesday morning.

Wellington City Council communications manager Richard MacLean said on Tuesday morning that most of the residents on the south coast who were affected had left of their own accord so there was no way to know how many of the 350 coastal properties had been cleared.

'I imagine a few people are choosing to stay home, there have been people talking on the radio saying we aren't going to leave. I don't expect 100% evacuation but that's the way it has been when we have done it in the past.'

People could not be forced to leave their homes, he said.

The swells bashing into Wellington’s south coast and around into the harbour had closed roads on the south coast and the new Ngauranga to Petone shared pathway alongside the harbour.

Inter-island ferries had been cancelled, and bus services were disrupted.

A light aircraft tipped over at Wellington Airport as high winds struck the region. Wellington Airport confirmed to Stuff there was an “incident” on Tuesday morning with a “small plane tipped onto its wing and wheel”.

Wellington Water said the heavy swells meant screened, but not treated, wastewater could be pushed closer to the coast.

“Public Health have advised sea spray settling on south coast properties, gardens or cars is not expected to be a significant health risk,” the utility said in a statement.

The treatment process was destroyed in a February flood of the Moa Point sewage treatment plant.

“Could just be warming up“

Artist Ian Logan lives just above The Esplanade at Island Bay, just above the building which once housed his gallery.

He was high enough to avoid evacuation, and to enjoy a good view of the waves, and the early morning traffic which had petered out by the 9am evacuation deadline.

'Having been here most of my life it just looks like a southerly storm swell,“ he said earlier on Tuesday. However, with high tide still a couple of hours away, it was too early to tell.

'It could be just warming up.'

The worst waves Logan can remember came in 2013, when the sea surged across the road. He had an opening that night at the gallery and was told to abandon the event.

'I said, no, this is Wellington, someone's going to be crazy enough to come out on a day like this. And they did.'

John Priest of Waimeha Camping Village near Cape Palliser said the swells on the South Wairarapa coast were not as high as other recent storms, but as of high tide at 11.30am they were still 'on the rise'.

He drove his 4WD vehicle along the coast to Cape Palliser to observe the effects of the storm just before midday on Tuesday and said he saw many seals on or near the road taking refuge from the waves hammering the beach.

He said the southwest swells, as they were experiencing today, were a threat to roads and other infrastructure.

'That's the sort of one that does the damage to the infrastructure and strips the beach'

He said roading contractors told him that the vulnerable stretch of road near Te Kopi was 'holding up'. 'Let's hope we dodge a bullet.'