By Briar Marbeck and Simon Wong
It's being called the worst storm to hit Wellington in 45 years.
Sirens pierced through the night and into the
morning as emergency services raced through the city's streets repairing
what the storm had broken.
Thousands are still without power this morning and numerous roads have been closed.
There are 30,000 homes without power in the capital,
including Lower Hutt, Wainuiomata, Miramar, Makara, Porirua, Titahi Bay
and Whitby. Power may remain cut off until midday in some areas.
The Wellington Fire Service received more than 900
emergency calls last night – a number of which were for damaged homes
and surface flooding.
The weather conditions were so severe overnight a
number of councils and power companies in the Wellington region were
forced to stop staff from carrying out repairs.
Police say any downed power lines should be treated as live and reported to council.
The city's mayor Celia Wade-Brown says civil defence
and emergency services have described the winds as "probably the worst
to hit the area since the Wahine storm in 1968".
She urged residents to call their local council to report damage to their properties and in their neighbourhoods.
The City Council is running its usual rubbish and
recycling collection today, but residents have been asked to not put
their rubbish out because it could end up all over the streets.
Meanwhile, the New Zealand Transport Agency says all
highways in the Wellington region are open, but is advising motorists
to take extreme care.
"Conditions are fortunately settling down, but
people must remember that it's still wet and windy by normal standards
and great care is required on the roads," a spokesperson says.
Police are urging extreme caution to anyone driving, and say people should not use the urban motorway unless it is an emergency.
Wellington rail passenger services have been
cancelled due to the need for urgent repair work. Hourly buses will
replace trains until further notice.
The weather has caused Seatoun School, at the entrance to Wellington's Harbour, to shut its gates today.
All Air New Zealand flights into and out of Wellington are suspended until further notice.
All Interislander ferry sailings have been cancelled for the rest of today.
The
Interislander's largest ferry, Kaitaki, was torn from its mooring in
the high winds. The vessel is now anchored in Point Jerningham. The
Interislander will review its evening sailings later this morning.
Swells
of up to 10 metres have been reported in Cook Strait and significant
amounts of debris have been thrown on to roads on Wellington’s south
coast.
While snow covered most of the South Island yesterday, it has been falling in the central North Island overnight.
State Highway 1 between Rangipo and Taihape has been closed due to snow, along with State Highway 48 in Tongariro National Park.
MetService predicts snow showers to affect the Desert Rd until Saturday morning.
Auckland faced severe gales, thunder, lightning
and hail overnight, damaging 12 houses in Stanmore Bay. One person was
injured when lightning hit a tree, knocking it over and into two homes.
Parts
of the North Island are still set for strong gales this morning and a
MetService severe weather warning remains in place for Northland,
Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula, Taranaki and Whanganui. Winds could
reach up to 150km/h in exposed areas.
NZTA North Island road closures:
- SH48 Tongariro National Park – closed, snow
- SH46 Rangipo to Tongariro – closed, snow
- SH47 Turangi to National Park – closed, snow
- SH4 and 49 National park to Waiouru – closed, snow
- SH1 Rangipo to Taihape – closed, snow
3 News will update weather conditions throughout the day. Send your weather photos to news@tv3.co.nz.
Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/Wellington-storm-worst-in-45-years/tabid/423/articleID/302202/Default.aspx#ixzz2X1VEGZVa
Fri, 21 Jun 2013 5:45a.m
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