Another round of severe weather is forecast to hit today in both the North and South Islands, with travellers urged to “drive to the conditions” when heading home from the long weekend.
Yesterday, the forecaster said an active low pressure system would sweep over large areas of the country from this afternoon into Tuesday, bringing rain and severe gales just as holidaymakers were likely to be heading home.
A state of emergency remained in place for Southland, Clutha District, and the Kaikōura District as nearly 8000 properties in the lower South Island were without power following last week’s weather event.
In a 4pm update, Otago Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) said around 2500 properties remain without power in Clutha. Power was restored to more than 900 properties in the district on Sunday.
“Power has been restored to Kaitangata, Ōwaka, Taieri Mouth and most of Lawrence. Huge progress has been made between Ōwaka and the Clutha Valley. Additional resource is coming to help restore power to the district.”
Meanwhile, all water and wastewater plants in the Clutha District are expected to be operational by the end of the day, Otago CDEM said. Many of the plants are currently running on generators.
“Water tanks remain available in towns where needed. A boil water notice is in place for most of the district, except Balclutha, Kaitangata, Wangaloa, Milton and Waihola.”
Flights cancelled in and out of capital
More than 50 flights in and out of the capital have been cancelled following wild weather, with “flow-on disruptions” expected to continue into the night, a Wellington Airport spokesperson told 1News.
“Passengers should check with their airline for information about flight cancellations and rescheduling.”
Air NZ chief operating officer Alex Marren earlier told 1News 27 flights in and out of Wellington had been cancelled.
Among the cancellations were “seven scheduled flights proactively cancelled this evening in anticipation of continued strong winds”.
“Flexibility is in place for customers travelling to or from Wellington today, allowing them to move their flight within 48 hours of their original booking if they wish.”
Hundreds without power across Wellington region
Approximately 480 customers are currently without power across the Wellington region due to ongoing high winds, Wellington Electricity said this evening.
“While this level of impact is not unusual for a windy Wellington evening, we remain focused on monitoring the network closely and responding to faults as they arise. Our crews are actively working to restore supply where it is safe to do so, and additional teams are on standby should conditions worsen.”
The power company said its first priority would be to attend faults that pose a risk to public safety, followed by restoring power to the largest affected areas before addressing smaller faults and individual properties.
“In some cases, restoration may be delayed until wind speeds drop to safe levels for crews to work at height. We also remind customers that repeat outages can occur as winds continue to affect overhead lines.”
Ferry delays possible
Cook Strait ferry sailings are “running as scheduled”, StraitNZ chief commercial officer Will Dady told 1News.
“We’ll be keeping a close eye on the weather but don’t expect disruption at this stage.”
A KiwiRail spokesperson told 1News delays were possible.
“There may be some delays to the ferries due to the weather, but we’re not expecting any cancellations at this stage.”
‘Wet and windy conditions’ across the country
MetService meteorologist Katie Hillyer told 1News there would be “wet and windy conditions” across the country today.
“Obviously that varies by how much depending on where you are, but the places that are looking the wettest are those sort of in the central, more western areas. Places like Buller and Grey, and the Western Ranges… as well as Waitomo, southern Waikato, through to Tongariro, as well as Taranaki National Park,” Hillyer said.
“So it’s those, again, central, west, or western areas that are exposed to that heavy rain, as well as any mountainous areas through there.”
Heavy snow, severe gales in ‘significant’ Labour Day storm – watch on TVNZ+
On top of that, she said windy conditions were likely to batter the central parts of the country, similarly to last week’s wild weather event.
“It’s actually more the eastern side, similar to last week, similar sort of reasoning with the northwesterlies coming down over the ranges and sort of accelerating.”
Places like Wairarapa and the Tararua district have a strong wind warning out today and that picks up this afternoon, bringing some “severe gale northwesterlies”.
A strong wind watch was also in effect for Canterbury High Country and the south of Marlborough, as well as for Banks Peninsula.
Hillyer said there was also a “plethora of road snow warnings that we’ve got out for a lot of the higher mountain roads in the South Island”.
“General advice with those is they can be obviously very disruptive to travel. So anyone travelling around for Labour Day in the South Island today should keep the journey planner page from NZTA app,” she said.
Reports of vehicles trapped as ‘winter’ returns
Several state highways in Otago are closed due to snow, as emergency services respond to reports of vehicles becoming trapped.
Earlier this afternoon, New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi issued area warnings on some state highways in the area as the predicted significant weather system moved up the South Island.
Motorists have been warned to travel with caution amid “winter driving conditions” on State Highway 87 from Mosgiel to Kyeburn, and on State Highway 85 from Alexandra to Palmerston.
SH80 from Aoraki-Mount Cook to Lake Pukaki; SH8 from Lake Tekapo to Twizel; SH1/Dunedin-Waitati Rd from Dunedin to Waitati; and SH83 between Omarama and Kurow are closed due to snow.
SH8 from Lake Tekapo to Fairlie, and Tarras to Omarama, including Lindis Pass, is also closed.
It’s also led to the closure of SH6 between Haast and Makarora, including Haast Pass, where there are unconfirmed reports of trapped vehicles that are being followed up by emergency services and roading teams.
“Road users are advised to delay their journeys or avoid the areas.”
Full watches and warnings list
Heavy Rain Warning – Orange
The eastern ranges of Bay of Plenty – 22hrs from 6pm Monday to 4pm Tuesday.
The central North Island hill country from southern Waikato to Tongariro National Park – 12hrs from 4pm Monday to 4am Tuesday.
Taranaki Maunga – 11hrs from 2pm Monday to 1am Tuesday.
The ranges of Grey and Buller, also Tasman west of Motueka – 12hrs from 9am to 9pm Monday.
Tararua Range – 12hrs from 2pm Monday to 2am Tuesday.
The Richmond and Bryant ranges, including the Rai Valley – 10hrs from noon to 10pm Monday.
Headwaters of the Canterbury lakes and rivers about and north of Arthur’s Pass/SH73 – 9hrs from 9am to 6pm Monday.
The ranges of the Westland District north of Haast – 13hrs from 9am to 10pm Monday.
Heavy Snow Warning – Orange
Canterbury High Country south of SH73, Queenstown Lakes District about and north of Wanaka, and Central Otago about and north of Ranfurly – 9hrs from 1pm to 10pm Monday.
Strong Wind Warning – Orange
Marlborough about and north of Cape Campbell – 8hrs from 2pm to 10pm Monday.
Wairarapa and the Tararua District – 9hrs from 4pm Monday to 1am Tuesday.
Wellington – 9hrs from 3pm to midnight Monday.
Chatham Islands – 9hrs from midnight Monday to 9am Tuesday.
Heavy Rain Watch
Northland – 7hrs from 10pm Monday to 5am Tuesday.
North Otago – 10hrs from noon to 10pm Monday.
Heavy Snow Watch
Queenstown Lakes District and Central Otago not covered by a warning – 9hrs from 1pm to 10pm Monday.
Strong Wind Watch
Taranaki, Taihape, and inland Whanganui – 7hrs from 3pm to 10pm Monday.
Nelson/Tasman north of Kohatu – 5hrs from 11am to 4pm Monday.
Kapiti – 6hrs from 6pm to midnight Monday.
Canterbury High Country north of SH73, also Marlborough south of Cape Campbell – 8hrs from 9am to 5pm Monday.
Christchurch and Banks Peninsula, and eastern Canterbury Plains from Rangiora to the Rakaia River mouth – 4hrs from 8pm to midnight Monday.
Northland – 7hrs from 10pm Monday to 5am Tuesday.
Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne/Tairāwhiti, especially near the ranges – 8hrs from 6pm Monday to 2am Tuesday.
– Additional reporting by Haley Doig
