Spring gales blast trucks off road

By ANNE BESTON

With winter barely over, spring gales arrived with force yesterday, blowing trucks off the road and a roof off a house in Wellington.

Flights around the country were also disrupted.

Five trucks were blown over on State Highway 2 north of Masterton, but no injuries were reported.

Near the small Wairarapa town of Eketahuna, a truck and trailer unit were blown off the road as the central North Island felt the full fury of the gales.

Police closed State Highway 2, the Mt Bruce summit road between Masterton and Eketahuna, to trucks, campervans and other vehicles with high sides.

The road over the Rimutaka hills into Wellington was restricted to only cars in the morning but reopened to all traffic in the afternoon.

A flight from Christchurch to Wellington was diverted to Auckland after the captain decided it was too dangerous to land in the capital.

Last night, winds continued to batter the coastal settlement of Castlepoint, east of Masterton, Masterton itself and the Tararua Ranges, with gusts over 100km/h.

MetService forecaster Rob Hamilton said wind gusts of 130km/h were recorded on the Rimutaka road, and Castlepoint had gusts up to 154km/h.

The wind was expected to ease overnight, although it would remain strong with gusts of about 65km/h from Marlborough up to southern Hawkes Bay, he said.

Stewart Island recorded a record wind gust for September of 176km/h, just 3km/h shy of the all-time record, and southern Hawkes Bay recorded gusts up to 130km/h.

The extreme west to northwest blow which covered the country for most of the day was caused by two weather systems, a high pressure system north of New Zealand and a deep low sweeping over the south of the South Island, pushing together from opposite ends of the country.

Latest forecasts: nzherald.co.nz/weather

Current NZ Special Weather Bulletin