TOP STORY: Killer gales cause havoc in Hawke's Bay

Staff Reporters Gale-force winds have caused death and destruction in Hawke's Bay in the past 24 hours.
Two women died at Bridge Pa when winds toppled a tree onto their car, trees blocked roads, homes lost their roofing and electricity was cut.
The highest winds were recorded at Flaxmere, where David Walker clocked a gust at 139 km/h between 6am and 7pm.
The Hawke's Bay Regional Council's network of weather stations peaked with 116 km/h at Crownthorpe at 4.25pm, where the stained glass window at St George's Church was blown in.
Central Hawke's Bay District Council emergency manager Bruce Kitto said the winds were "up with the strongest I've ever had to deal with" in 23 years of working in emergency services in the area.
Mr Kitto said he was surprised more trees had not blown over, but that the winds had still left a mess.
"Generally there is a lot of debris lying over the roads" he said.
Mr Kitto said the winds at times made both standing up and driving difficult.
He urged farmers to check any old fires they thought had been extinguished to ensure they had not flared up.
Hastings District Council roading manager Rob Bramley said branches had come down on roads across the district with contractors working until 11pm in central Hastings and Havelock North to keep the roads clear. This morning they were still working in Chatham Road, where a tree had come down.
Napier Sailing Club's wind gauge, at Ahuriri, reported gusts of up to 115km/h at 2am today. Club manager Lyle Tresadern said one catamaran had been blown across the yacht park yesterday and the club's loudspeaker was blown from the building.
The region's fire service were run ragged helping clear up the mess after the damage.
Fire services from Napier to Takapau all attended incidents where roofing was being lifted from buildings, and Napier fire chief Paul Baxter said he would be surprised if there were not more incidents today.
Ironically, the fire service and rural fire authority representatives had met in Hastings earlier yesterday to consider the fire dangers in Hawke's Bay and Mr Baxter said today indices amid the gale-force winds had pushed the fire danger to high.
In Central Hawke's Bay, the Onga Onga and Tikokino volunteer fire brigades stopped a grass fire reaching a house and other buildings.
Onga Onga fire chief Mike Adams said his crew had returned from helping secure a roof lifting off a house between Onga Onga and Waipawa when the first call to the fire came at 7.30pm.
The fire near Onga Onga was thought to have started by the reignition of embers from a rubbish fire or burnoff at least three months ago, and Mr Baxter said that while restrictions were not officially in place today, the setting of any fires was a danger while the winds remained.
Waipukurau Fire Brigade received seven wind-related call-outs. The last was at 4am when the brigade was called to a grass fire on Ashcott Road, caused by fallen powerlines arcing.
There was only one other fire among the seven call-outs, a re-ignition of a burn-off of a fortnight ago, also on Ashcott Road. The other five call-outs were to secure roofs. Tararua District Council emergency management officer Noel Mingins said Dannevirke appeared to have escaped relatively unscathed from the high winds.
At least 40 households were still without electricity in Central Hawke's Bay this morning after the winds caused extensive damage to Centralines network.
Parts of both Waipukurau and Waipawa were blacked out for about 30 minutes after trees were blown into lines, work stopped briefly at the Richmond Takapau works after a 33KV line was affected and poles snapped in Hatuma Road.
Centralines staff worked until midnight repairing damage and were back on the job at 6am.
Wind damage to power lines in Hawke's Bay was less severe though lines were brought down in the Flaxmere area, around Sherenden on the Napier-Taihape Road and at Patoka.
Unison spokesman Bill Hewitt said debris caused widespread minor damage to its network throughout the whole of Hawke's Bay.
The buffeting, swirling winds caused a myriad of minor faults, mostly on small arterial lines in the Dannevirke area.
The high winds caused fires and blew down a tree and powerlines in Waipukurau.
An elm tree on Hatuma Road, just out of Waipukurau, was blown down about 8 o'clock last night, and it is believed the road is still closed.
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