Rotorua and Tauranga hit by strong winds as crews respond to 26 callouts

Fire and Emergency crews were called to 26 weather-related incidents in the Bay of Plenty overnight and power was out to thousands of properties.

Evidence of the strong winds could be seen across the Bay, with trees and branches scattered across streets and footpaths.

The 26 callouts were all between 6pm-8am, a Fire and Emergency spokeswoman said, and were mostly for downed trees.

A shed was blown over in Rotorua and a tarpaulin came loose on a roof in Tauranga.

There were also several reports of roofs lifting in Rotorua.

A Rotorua Daily Post reader sent in this photo of a tree that fell down on their property.

A Rotorua Daily Post reader sent in photos of a tree that fell over on their property.

The reader said if the tree had fallen the other way, it would have hit their house.

“My husband’s homemade gate is still standing,” they wrote.

Rotorua Lakes Council said on its website that it had received multiple calls about trees and branches coming down in the “wild” weather.

“The northeasterlies also pushed lake weed towards the lakefront, resulting in a fairly large stranding.

“[The] council and its partners will work on a plan to deal with the lake weed, and contractors, who have been busy since the early hours of the morning, are continuing to clear sites today.”

Weed washed up at Rotorua Lakefront following last night's wild weather. Photo / Ben Fraser

A Unison spokesperson said about 7000 Rotorua customers were impacted by outages overnight, including parts of Ngongotahā, Fairy Springs, from Titikere to Ōwhata, and areas north of Lake Rotoiti.

Just over 700 customers in the Rotorua area were still experiencing unplanned outages this morning.

Damage on Devon St after high winds. Photo / Ben Fraser

“We understand how disruptive power outages can be, and our crews are working as quickly and safely as possible to get all customers reconnected.”

A Powerco spokeswoman said as of 8.45am, 329 customers were without power in the Bay of Plenty, including two larger outages in Ōhauiti and Waitao. Restoration was in progress, she said.

Last night, power went out to 453 properties in the Apata area in a weather-related outage.

An uprooted tree was being cleared this morning on McLean St in Rotorua. Photo / Ben Fraser

MetService recorded peak northeasterly gusts of 78km/h in Tauranga and 83km/h in Rotorua about midnight.

A Western Bay of Plenty Council spokesperson said they responded to nine weather-related incidents overnight, mainly surface flooding and fallen trees and branches.