Source: Radio New Zealand
Sarah Lyne says she returned home to find rooms in her Kingston flat open to the elements after Sunday night’s wild weather. Supplied
A Wellington woman says she returned home to find rooms in her Kingston flat open to the elements after Sunday night’s wild weather.
People in the lower North Island were confronting the damage to their neighbourhoods after heavy rain and high winds felled trees, flooded homes and closed schools yesterday.
More than 10,000 people were still without power in the lower North Island.
Powerco was reporting 8220 properties without power across Manawatū, Whanganui and Wairarapa.
While in Wellington, 2300 homes and businesses remained without power on Tuesday morning.
Wellington Electricity said it expected most customers to be back online by Tuesday evening but some in the hardest-hit areas could have to wait until the end of the week.
The Wellington Regional Emergency Management Office was warning people to take care when clearing fallen branches, and to be on the watch for slips and unstable ground.
The roof had torn off
Sarah Lyne – an RNZ employee – said she chose to spend the night at a friends knowing that her rented flat was in poor condition.
“I showed up the next day to find my roof tiles absolutely everywhere. Over my driveway, over my yard, getting onto the street. Went inside and found pink [insulation] bats everywhere. Basically the roof had torn off,” Lyne said.
Supplied
She said she fire crews called in to secure the roof soon spotted other damage from the vantage point on top of her home and had to move on to assist other people nearby.
Lyne said she was extremely grateful to her neighbours who acted quickly – putting tarpaulins in place to protect the building – despite the continued high winds.
“My neighbours immediately jumped into action. They grabbed a ladder – it was quite dangerous – jumped up, checked the damage, took a bunch of photos and grabbed some tarp and immediately covered as much as [they] could. My place would be in a lot worse state if it wasn’t for them,”
She said she had no idea how long it would be before her home would be habitable again.
‘Panic stations’ in the early morning
In Lower Hutt this morning, residents near the flooded Waiwhetu Stream were cleaning up debris washed across the neighbourhood.
On Monday morning people in nearby Heather Grove people were told to self evacuate if they felt unsafe.
BJ Rauhihi said it was “panic stations” – as the stream broke its banks and water began to swamp the area early in the morning.
“It just started getting worse and worse and then you could see it was starting to fill up the rest of the street but when you look down there, yeah it was like a raging torrent really.”
Rauhihi said it was nerve racking to realise he could no longer see the footpath or his street’s grass berms.
“We hit the panic stations and then we are started packing stuff up and getting ready,” Rauhihi said.
In the end Rauhihi said he was able to stay in his home. He said Civil Defence workers did a great job.
“The last time it flooded like this on Heather Grove was 20 years ago but this event was worse.
“It was terrible, you just don’t know what to do with yourself, I was probably in a little bit of shock,” Rauhihi said.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
