Wellington roofs torn off, power cuts as wild weather continues – صحيفة الصوت

Crashing seas destroyed a boat and damaged roads in the capital on Thursday, as residents faced winds that tore the roofs off their homes.

Nearly 3000 residents in Wellington’s Eastbourne were cut off when swells swept across the road, wrecking a catamaran on the coastline.

Resident John Morgan, who has lived in Lowry Bay for seven years, had parts of the wrecked catamaran wash down his driveway. Council contractors helped them clean up right away he said, although he often gets out the wheelbarrow to clean up debris from high seas.

“The sooner they extend the seawall the better,” he said. “But having a few bad days like this is totally worth it to live in an amazing space with the ocean right out the window.”

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Many homes went without power on Thursday evening, with outages of a few hours for thousands of households in Porirua and Newlands.

MetService meteorologist John Law said a 133kph gust was recorded at the top of Mt Kaukau in Wellington about 2pm. There was a 109kph gust in Masterton in Wairarapa, 117kph at Wellington Airport, and 111kph in Kelburn.

Rongotai resident Katherine Hoshino’s three children were at home this afternoon when their neighbour’s roof blew off and smashed through a bedroom window. “The two boys were not worried but my daughter was a bit scared and called me,” she said.

The fire brigade helped them board up the smashed window. Roofs lifted off throughout the region, including at the Norma Blue cafe in Wainuiomata.

Wellington’s wind warning will last until 10pm on Thursday while Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne’s warning remained in place until 2am on Friday.

A wave of up to 10m was recorded earlier on Thursday, at the Wellington harbour entrance, and regular 6m waves were coming through, MetService meteorologist Luis Fernandes said.

It was predicted they could still get bigger, he said. A heavy swell warning is in place until Friday afternoon.

Most flights in and out of the capital have been cancelled until further notice.

Mahina Bay resident Christina Ricke Buckley said she saw waves crash over smaller cars, as vehicles attempted to navigate Marine Drive at high tide, about 11am.

“The conditions were treacherous,” she said. At one point, a bus stopped and the driver got out and cleared debris from the road, before continuing on.

Some Eastern Bays residents she had spoken to said it was the worst weather they had experienced in 20 years.

Earlier, a Cook Strait Bluebridge ferry circled the harbour for several hours, unable to berth due to powerful winds.