A truck was blown off State Highway 2 near Takapau on Tuesday as strong winds struck Hawke's Bay. Photo / Sam Governor
At least two people have been injured - one seriously - after two trucks were blown off Central Hawke’s Bay highways by northwesterly gales that damaged properties, closed roads and cut power to nearly 1000 homes.
MetService issued fresh orange strong wind warnings for Hawke’s Bay and the lower North Island on Tuesday morning. The warning is in place for Hawke’s Bay from 10am to 9.30pm on Tuesday.
On Tuesday morning, a cabin was blown onto its side in Dannevirke and roofs and sheds were torn to pieces, with iron sheeting blasted through the streets of Norsewood.
At 2.30pm, 433 properties had no power in the Hastings district, according to lines company Unison’s website.
At the same time, 477 Central Hawke’s Bay properties were without power, according to the Centralines website.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said gales were wreaking havoc through southern areas of Hawke’s Bay on Tuesday morning.
State Highway 50, near the Waipawa River bridge, was blocked after the second truck roll about 2.50pm.
A person had been injured, a police spokesperson said.
Eastern District Police received several reports of vehicles rolling or tipping due to high winds.
“We are urging motorists to seriously consider delaying travel, especially if you are travelling in a high-sided vehicle,” the spokesperson said.
Earlier, a police spokesman said a truck tipped over on a renowned windy stretch of State Highway 2, near Takapau, in Central Hawke’s Bay, about 10.10am.
Sam Governor was travelling from Upper Hutt to Hawke’s Bay with his family when they saw the truck had rolled on its side.
He said with several cars in front of his, adrenaline kicked in and he rushed to see if the driver was okay, alongside another motorist who got out to help while his wife called emergency services.
Windblown dirt from a freshly plowed field was “pouring” all over road.
“I didn’t even have my shoes on, I just jumped out barefoot and ran, I wasn’t sure what to expect seeing it upended like that.“
Governor said he saw a passenger in the truck was hurt, and the horn was stuck on and beeping.
The truck driver sheltered from the wind in Governor’s vehicle to make phone calls.
Emergency services arrived quickly.
A Hato Hone St John spokesperson said one person in a serious condition was taken to Hawke’s Bay Hospital.
One lane was blocked until 11.30am as the clean-up took place.
Trees, fences and a cabin were blown over near Dannevirke and there were reports of roofs being ripped off in Norsewood, where one local described the wind as the worst she’d experienced.
Tararua District Council said on Tuesday morning it was “blowing an absolute gale out there”.
“Our crews are already out dealing with fallen trees and debris across the district, so please take extra care on the roads.
“Visibility and control can change in an instant in wind like this. We’re also receiving reports of roof metal flying around and power lines down.”
Elisabeth Bayliss owns Snazzy Nailz in Dannevirke, from a rented cabin.
She was woken up on Tuesday morning by her mother-in-law telling her the cabin had blown over.
“I thought she was kidding, and she wasn’t,” Bayliss said.
“Everything’s just blown over.”
Bayliss was waiting for the wind to die down so she could inspect the damage but said she had lost a lot of equipment and stock.
Meanwhile, a tree blew over on SH2 north of Dannevirke, partially blocking a lane.
A woman house-sitting in Norsewood said she watched the sheeting of a roof blow off a building, leaving debris on the street and fire crews to tie down what was left of it.
Chrissy Crewther said she looked out a window to see sheeting from an old garage roof, on the corner of Eric St and Odin St, flying in the air about 7.45am.
She suspected the iron had cut a power line, which was sparking on the road at the time.
“I must have heard something crashing and banging ... I saw the corrugated iron flying around and that was after it came off the roof.”
Crewther thought it was a tornado and was unable to leave through the front door to get iron away from her car, as the wind was so strong.
“There was no way I could even go out the door, and I thought it was dangerous for me to do that.”
Lower Norsewood resident Liz Jarman, who has lived in the area for seven years, said the wind was “horrific all night”, during which the fence between her property and the NZ Natural Clothing Shop had blown down.
“It is the worst I’ve experienced here.”
Five roads were closed for a time in Central Hawke’s Bay as strong winds continued to disrupt the district just before noon.
Pōrangahau Rd was closed at Wanstead, along with Mill Rd in Ashley Clinton, Middleton Rd in Waipukurau, Kashmir Rd in the Ruahine Ranges, and Lake Station Rd near Wanstead.
Pleasant Valley Rd and Tukituki Makaretu Rd in Ashley Clinton, and Pourerere Rd are down to single lanes, while Clinton Makaretu Rd and Pleasant Valley are being assessed by Central Hawke’s Bay Council staff.
In Ashley Clinton, firefighters were battling a fire pit that had reignited in the wind.
A Fire and Emergency spokesman said two trucks and two tankers were called to the fire near Mill Rd at 7.39am on Tuesday.
“It’s a big hole with a whole lot of farm stuff in it that is on fire. Wind is playing havoc for absolutely everything we are dealing with today.
“It’s coming all the way through CHB into the Wairarapa.”
No injuries had been reported and no structures were in danger.
At 9.30am, 410 homes were without power in the CHB town of Takapau, lines company Centralines’ website said, with another 60 in CHB rural areas also affected.
By 10.15am, most of the outages had been restored, however, other small outages continued to be reported around the region.
Centralines general manager Isabelle Crawshaw said all of Tuesday morning’s outages were caused by vegetation or trees on the lines, rather than wind blowing over power lines.
Crawshaw said sporadic outages were likely throughout the day as the wind continued.
A tree had fallen on to powerlines on Pōrangahau Rd and caused a power outage that Crawshaw said would last for some time, but she said Centralines crews were working hard to fix all unplanned outages on their network.
She encouraged people to report power outages in CBH to Centralines’ website.
The Terrace School in Waipukurau said a wattle tree had fallen at the kura but everyone was safe indoors.
“If you are rural whānau, we understand if you decide to pick up your tamariki early.”
The school also cancelled mainstream class visits to Rākautātahi Marae due to the weather.