A storm sweeps through the country has caused widespread disruption – from flooding to felled trees, road closures, power outages and canceled flights.
As it entered from northern Tasman on Monday, the storm also contained a “atmospheric river” that saw more than more than 45 weather warnings issued by MetService across the country on Tuesday.
Heavy rainfall over much of the North Island caused widespread flooding that closed many roads, including state highways.
State Highway 1 was also closed between Orewa and Warkworth due to fallen trees. In Northland, State Highway 15 was closed in both directions between Pakotai and Parakao due to flooding, along with SH1 between Perry Rd and Rangiahua Rd.
Kelly Hodel/Things
Leo Kiely and Callum Wood from Auckland wandered through the floodwaters near Coromandel to grab a pie each.
Floods also caused road closures to SH25 between Hikuai and Tairua and between Wharekaho and Kuaotunu in Coromandel.
Multiple briefs closed the Remutaka Hill road, the main route between Wellington and the Wairarapa, from 2 p.m. Portions of SH2 north of Masterton were also closed due to flooding.
more southerly, the storm saw several state highways closed†
Flood closed SH1 between Blenheim and Seddon, and between Seddon and Kaikoura, as well as SH63 St Arnaud to Renwick and SH77 Darfield to Rakaia.
Kelly Hodel/Things
Flooding hit many roads and state highways across both the North and South Islands on Tuesday.
Power lines downed in high winds had also closed SH6 between Ross and Fox Glacier, and fallen trees had also closed SH73 between Jacksons and Kumara.
SH73 Springfield to Castle Hill (Porters Pass), SH8 Twizel to Fairlie (Burkes Pass), SH8 Tarras to Omarama (Lindis Pass) was closed due to heavy snowfall. The Lindis Pass closure was expected to remain in place overnight with an update Wednesday morning.
A car
Due to heavy snowfall and fallen trees, several highways on the South Island were closed on Tuesday.
Motorists driving along other roads in the South Island were also urged to exercise caution due to strong winds and warnings, although this is expected to decrease Tuesday night.
Snow was forecast for the Canterbury High Country, North Otago, Central Otago and the Queenstown Lakes up to 300m.
Strong winds were expected along the west coast of the South Island, Banks Peninsula, Tasman, the Marlborough Sounds and all of the North Island except Gisborne.
Wild weather also caused several flight delays and cancellations in and out of the capital. Wellington Airport confirmed that at least 19 flights had been cancelled.
AIMAN AMERUL MUNER/Stuff
Big waves hit Caroline Bay in Timaru.
There was also a swell warning for much of Wellington’s coastline, with waves of up to 4.5 meters expected later Tuesday evening.
Warnings of large waves have also been issued off the coast of the Banks Peninsula to just above Ōamaru, where combined waves of 3 meters are expected in the southeast on Tuesday night, rising to 4 meters later in the evening.
By mid-afternoon, power was restored to about 1,000 homes in Northland after wild weather caused outages across the region.
However, hundreds in Buller were said to be without power on Tuesday night as a power outage could not be reached due to high winds.
Stormy conditions are expected to ease by Wednesday, although wintry conditions across the country are likely to continue through the rest of the week.