Tree topples on man as storm rages

By STAFF REPORTERS

A man was crushed by a falling tree last night as the remnants of a "weather bomb" lashed the Auckland region.

Civil Defence staff in Waitakere were on standby after power was cut to homes, roofs lifted and roads flooded as a violent storm intensified during the evening.

Ambulance staff said a man in Northcote was badly hurt when a tree fell on him. He was in a serious condition in Auckland Hospital last night. In Whangarei a house built on a slope was reportedly moving downhill.



Fierce easterly winds and heavy rain hit Northland, Auckland and Coromandel Peninsula as a storm moved down from the Far North. Last night Civil Defence controllers were monitoring river levels in the Waikato and Thames, where a high tide early today was expected to cause flooding.

Rain belted down relentlessly on Auckland several hours after the high winds hit, and meteorologists were warning residents of the city and Northland of a likely sting in the tail of the storm today, predicting a period of southwesterly gales around noon.

Winds gusting up to 160km/h were reported from Tiritiri Matangi Island in the Hauraki Gulf, and to 123km/h atop the Sky Tower. But it was a variable storm, with mild temperatures and wind speeds reaching only about 25km/h in some pockets.

There were slips on roads throughout upper Northland, and many schools closed early so buses could get children home before the mid-afternoon high tide.

The top half of Coromandel was cut off by flooding last night.

Much of the peninsula also suffered power cuts.

Last night emergency services were inundated with calls from people whose homes had been damaged by violent winds and rain.

Eric Smith from the Northern Fire Communication Centre said they had received over 70 calls and had to bring in extra staff to cope with the influx. The calls were received from Turangi north.

Mr Smith said that earlier in the evening Northland was affected, but as the storm shifted south more calls came from Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty.

Most calls concerned roofs blown off, windows blown out, and fallen trees. In Birkdale, a wall was blown out of a house.

Inspector David Montgomery from the Police Northern Communications Centre said it had received about 25 reports of roads blocked by trees and slips.

Several car accidents were reported. At Karapiro there was a three-car collision, and another at Waihi.

On Auckland's northern motorway, a car crashed after losing control on the flooded road.

In downtown Auckland, the main effect of the "bomb" appeared to be psychological, as city folk armed with umbrellas scurried to appointments before the 3pm designated time it was supposed to hit.



Lunch for some cafe patrons in Takapuna was interrupted when a gust of wind punched a thick 3m panel of glass out of a skylight at the Westfield Shore City shopping centre at 2pm.

A ledge above the cafe in the centre's top-floor gallery took the brunt of the impact, but shards of glass showered about 30 people seated below.

Two people were treated for shock and minor cuts to their hands.

Two women in the adjacent Monsoon clothing store said they heard a loud noise and saw people rushing away from the cafe area.

"We were just saying how quiet it was and then this happened," one said.



Most Far North schools opened yesterday morning, but many closed early so school buses could take children home before floodwaters and slips made back-country roads impassable. More than 100mm of rain fell in many northern areas.





MetService spokesman Bob McDavitt explained that a "weather bomb" was created when a sudden drop in pressure left a vacuum, which became a deep low.

It was called a bomb because it developed so suddenly.

The combination of warm and cold air caught within it contributed to the intensity of the wind gusts and bursts of rain.

The bomb developed overnight on Wednesday in the northwest of New Zealand and started heading southwards yesterday.

The most battered areas were those exposed to the east.

nzherald.co.nz/weather

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