Heavy weather which hit Northland at the weekend set a pine tree alight at Waipu and caused a power blackout when a shag flew into power lines at Ruakaka yesterday.
The Waipu Fire Brigade was called out at 2.05am yesterday when a pine tree was reported to be ablaze ona Millbrook Rd property.
"It must have been struck by lightning," Waipu Volunteer Fire Brigade deputy chief fire officer Alan Vaile said yesterday.
The tree was "burning quite well" on the bank of the Ahuroa River about 500m from the road.
The farmer could not be contacted to borrow a tractor, so firefighters carried a portable pump across a muddy paddock in pouring rain.
"The top of the tree fell into the river. Part of the stump was left burning because it was on the river side of the tree and could not be reached without a boat."
In high winds around 7am yesterday, a shag flew into power lines at the intersection of Tamure Pl and Peter Snell Rd in Ruakaka, causing a power blackout.
Ruakaka Volunteer Fire Brigade station officer Jeff D'Ath said the station siren didn't sound because the power was off.
The impact had "fried" the shag and "exploded" copper power lines.
"We stopped people walking through the fallen lines until a Northpower crew arrived and fixed them," Mr D'Ath said.
Despite the heavy rain - 13mm fell at Kerikeri between 8-9pm on Saturday - Northland escaped serious flooding.
Whangarei recorded 17mm of rain between 9pm Saturday and 2am Sunday, with 8mm falling between midnight and 1am. Emergency services reported no call-outs and there were no reports of sewage spills into the Whangarei Harbour.
Northland is likely to experience unsettled weather for the rest of the week.
