Storm leaves trail of destruction in the North

Woman dead; houses under threat; tornado in BoP

Fairfax Media

A body has been found in a river, people have been evacuated as a slip threatens homes, flights have been cancelled, floods have isolated towns and winds have cut power to others as a storm pummels NZ.

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And a group of schoolchildren have made it safely home after being trapped at a rural Hawke's Bay school by floodwaters.

The flooding problems have been severe on the East Coast, Waikato and Bay of Plenty, while gale-force winds have caused major disruptions in Hawke's Bay, Horowhenua, Nelson and Marlborough, bringing down trees and power lines.

A large slip caused the evacuation of more than a dozen homes on Auckland's North Shore.

One Torbay home has been severely damaged and is danger of collapse. If it slips down the hill it will take another three houses with it, and slam into a further 11 homes.

Officials have evacuated the threatened homes, at the bottom of a slip on Lingham Crescent.

A Northern Fire Communications spokesman said the decision to evacuate the homes had been made quickly after an assessment by the North Shore Council, civil defence and emergency services.

The damage will be reassessed in the morning.

WOMAN'S BODY FOUND, PARTNER MISSING

A Bay of Island woman swept to her death by flood waters was thought to have been attempting to cross a ford on foot.

Police spokeswoman Sarah Kennett said it was thought the woman, aged 41s, had parked her car near a ford to her house and attempted to cross the swollen creek on foot.

Her body was found about 1km down stream about 11.30am by a local person.

The woman's partner who "was always with her" was also missing. About 30 search and rescue staff and  volunteers spent this afternoon searching the river banks and surrounding area.

The search was tonight suspended until first light tomorrow.

COROMANDEL PENINSULA TOWN ISOLATED, EMERGENCY SERVICES ON ALERT

The Coromadel Peninsula town Pauanui remained cut off tonight after a day of gale force winds and driving rain caused chaos in the area.

Authorities said the continuing gales and rain sodden ground were keeping emergency services in Thames Coromandel on alert.

While heavy rain warnings have been lifted, rivers are running high within the region and strong gusty winds are worrying emergency services.

Emergency sand bagging was in place this afternoon near the farming town of Waitakaruru to avoid breaches of stop banks.

Thames-Coromandel Mayor Philippa Barriball said sand bagging and channelling had directed water into the designed course so no evacuations were required so far.

"The stop banks are not expected to fail but we have an imminent high tide so everyone is being kept on alert."

Ms Barriball said the main concern was the "quite strong gusty winds" causing trees to come down, bringing powerlines with them.

Pauanui, with a population of about 700 people remained isolated due to road closures since this morning, she said.

Access to Whitianga, with a population of 5000, had been re-established with one road reopened, after being closed for most of the day.

Ms Barriball said the council and emergency services were in a holding pattern, waiting to see what the weather would bring.

Children were told to stay at home at most schools on the Coromandel Peninsula, Hauraki Plains and at Waihi today. 

Te Aroha, pummelled by a storm at the weekend, has again been hit, with power cut to a number of homes. The Karangahake Gorge, between Paeroa and Waihi, had earlier been closed by half a metre of water across the road.

The storm had hit close to home for firefighters. "The bloody fire station has been flooded. It's come right through the carpet, right through the social room, we will be drinking in water tonight."

Environment Waikato recorded over 300mm in the 24 hours to 10am this morning at Golden Cross, near Waihi. By contrast, Hamilton received just 28mm of rain in the same period.

HOROWHENUA BLACKED OUT

Power company repair crews in the Horowhenua were battling tonight to restore electricity to 25,000 households after devastating winds in the region.

Electra network chief executive John Yeoman said there had been significant damage to the northern part of the network – covering much of the Horowhenua.

Levin, 100km north of Wellington, was largely blacked out and houses and businesses from Otaki to Tokomaru were cut off.

Employees went home when many businesses that required electricity to operate closed their doors, and some schools were closed for the day.

The Horowhenua District Council and the local police station were operating much of the day on generators.

Mr Yeoman said houses south of Levin lost power late in the day when Electra also lost a 33,000 volt feeder line from Waikanae to Otaki.

That 33,000 volt line toppled in winds he said had been gusting up to 150kph throughout the day.

Crews had brought in diggers to try to re-erect the fallen poles in swampy ground near Waikanae.

Tonight, police warned fallen power cables had caused the closure of the portion of SH1 from the northern end of Waikanae township to Peka Peka Road.

Traffic was diverted down to the beach and then back to the main highway further north.

"If we can get the line back up, we can restore power to Otaki, and bring it on up to Levin," Mr Yeoman said.

Mr Yeoman said many of his workers had been at work since early today and he was running out of fresh crews – he would probably have to stand down his staff in the early hours of Thursday.

Powerco said 18,000 of its 400,000 customers across the North Island were disconnected by trees falling on powerlines, but late in the day it had brought in extra crews and had reconnected 13,000 of them.

"We have had heavy rain combined with high winds causing a lot of trees and branches to break and cause damage to overhead lines," said Powerco network operations manager Ross Dixon in a statement.

Areas affected included Bunnythorpe, Linton, Mangamaire, Motorua, Te Matai, Hinuera, Kopu, Waihou, Mataroa, Ohakune, Tauranga, Wairarapa and Wanganui.

Mr Dixon urged people seeing power lines down to treat them as live at all times, keep clear and contact emergency services without delay.

TRAPPED SCHOOL CHILDREN SAFE

A group of school children trapped at a Hawke's Bay school when the storm sweeping the country cut off the school's only road have returned home safe and well, after a "great adventure".

About eight children and three teachers at Elsthorpe School, a rural primary school in central Hawke's Bay, spent several hours waiting for powerlines to be cleared and a fallen tree to be moved.

Principal Kathryn Rowe said the majority of the children at the school, which has a roll of about 50, were sent home this morning after heavy floodwaters threatened roads in the area.

The road became blocked about 11.30am, trapping the remaining students and all of the school's teachers, she said.

The road was cleared by mid-afternoon and the children had returned safely home, she said.

"It was a great adventure for them."

Ms Rowe said while access to the school had been restored, the threat of slips and more rain could mean many students would not be able to make it tomorrow.

"We'll make a decision in the morning and decide whether the school will be open."

FLIGHTS CANCELLED

More than 20 flights in and out of Wellington International Airport have been cancelled today because of high winds, a spokesman said.

Poor weather in Taupo, Gisborne and Nelson also caused the cancellation of Air New Zealand Link flights from those airports.

An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said weather conditions were still marginal, but staff were doing all they could to assist passengers.

TORNADOES IN BAY OF PLENTY, BULLER

A tornado has damaged several houses in Mt Maunganui in the Bay of Plenty. Tornadoes also hit northern Buller this morning, ripping through properties in Westport.

The Mt Maunganui tornado ripped through several streets, lifting roof tiles and smashing windows about 9am.

An hour later the wind had abated and the sun was shining weakly as firefighters placed tarpaulins on the damaged roofs, said Senior Sergeant Tania Kura from the Mt Maunganui police.

She said the tornado did not leave a swathe of destruction but several houses next to each other were damaged.

ROADS CLOSED UP NORTH

Northland was cut off from the rest of the country for a time, when State Highway 1 was closed by a huge slip just north of Warkworth.3

Whangarei District Council spokeswoman Ann Midson said the storm appeared to have passed through Northland quite quickly with less rainfall than expected.

- with Dominion Post, Waikato Times, The Press, NZPA