Wellington: Severe storms are lashing the North Island of New Zealand, with many schools across Wellington forced to close amid safety concerns.
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The storm that rolled up the country yesterday - blanketing parts of the South Island in near-record levels of snow - smashed the lower North Island overnight. Emergency operation centres in Christchurch and Auckland were diverted to deal with Wellington's woes.
At the peak of the storm, winds gusting up to 200km/h damaged buildings and tore trees from the ground. Lashing rain caused surface flooding and, at times, up to 30,000 residents were without power.
Conditions were so treacherous that some council and power companies stopped their workers from carrying out repairs.
This morning, the weather continues to play havoc with transport links around the Wellington region, with train, ferry, air and bus travel all hit. Dozens of mainly primary schools have closed for the day.
Power remains out for up to 28,000 households.
All ferries and flights to and from Wellington are cancelled. The Interislander ferry Kaitaki remained sheltering in Wellington Harbour this morning, after breaking its moorings last night.
Wellington Region Civil Defence controller Bruce Pepperell said all highways in the region were open - but conditions were still marginal and extreme care would be needed by motorists.
Many smaller roads remain closed by slips, fallen trees and other debris.A resident of the hard hit south coast of Wellington, Karen Brodie, said The Esplanade had been "trashed".
"It's like a bomb's gone off. I've never seen anything like it," she said.
"The road has been completely ripped up.
"Debris, including logs, seaweed, sand and a ripped up bench seat were on the road," she said.
She even found a dead fish washed on the road this morning.The wind last night was "hideous" Ms Brodie said. "It even moved my car over on an angle."
Southerly gales of between 67km/h and 79km/h are forecast to continue until 10am local time today, dropping back to 50km/h by noon.
The wind speeds are a massive change from last night's gusts of 200km/h at 8pm on Mt Kaukau and 140km/h at Wellington Airport.
Wellington had 31.8mm of rain between 5pm yesterday and 7.30am today, and is expecting further showers today.
The Fire Service received 932 emergency calls for help in the lower North Island in the 12 hours to 6am, with reports of "trees down, flooding, fences blown away, roofs lifting," central communications shift manager Belinda Beets said.Acting Inspector Bruce Mackay at police central communications said a major problem overnight had been swells hitting the waterfront, pushing stones from the railway on to the motorway. The motorway was closed for several hours overnight while the stones were swept up.
The South Island remains in the grip of one of its worst snowstorms in more than 30 years - and there is still more to come.
Some flights in and out of Christchurch Airport have been delayed or cancelled this morning.
The South Island's power supply to the North Island was cut last night when high winds damaged the inter-island cable link.
In Auckland, lightning strikes sent a Norfolk pine crashing through a house and smashed windows in several others.
Fairfax NZ News
