Wellington living up to its title as The Windy City. Video / Luzelle Jooste
It seems like Wellington is living up to its title as an incredible video shows off the region's "next level" wind when good Samaritans stopped to help a local who can barely hold onto her bicycle.
Luzelle Jooste, who captured the video, told the Herald her family were travelling toWellington Airport along Evans Bay Parade when strong winds prompted them to pull over.
"We saw the waves were quite big and we could feel the ute shake a bit more than usual," she said.
Hold on! Good Samaritans try help a local who is struggling to hold onto her bike. Photo / Luzelle Jooste
"So we decided to stop and as we pulled over our mirror flipped forward ... we are used to the wind already, but this was just next level."
Her husband JJ Jooste and brother-in-law Bertie Jooste, who they were dropping off at the airport, decided to get out and "goof around" until a woman came along, struggling with her bicycle.
In the video they are seen trying to help her get back on the bike, but couldn't win the battle against the wind.
Meanwhile, Luzelle is heard laughing as the ordeal unfolds.
"I just started the video as soon as she turned into the shot and my husband his brother were trying to help her with her bike," Luzelle said.
"My laugh, oh my goodness, I didn't realise at the time ... and I had my kids in the car and they're like 'it's so funny'."
Eventually, they ended up taking the woman in their ute as Bertie rode the bike out of the wind.
Bertie Jooste "goofing off" in the wind before he helps a woman with her bicycle. Photo / Luzelle Jooste
"She was so grateful, she was really really grateful," Luzelle explained.
However, things turned more pear-shaped when they lost Bertie, who didn't have roaming on his mobile phone as he was visiting from South Africa.
After passing each other without realising at several points, the family eventually found him at the marina near the airport.
JJ Jooste struggling to make it back to the car as Luzelle continues to laugh at the situation. Photo / Luzelle Jooste
"He is visiting us from South Africa so this was a great experience, as we are always trying to say how crazy the wind can be in Wellington," she said.
"It was a very good laugh and memory."
Luzelle added that when they stopped near the airport, they saw a plane which had to abort landing twice.
According to MetService meteorologist Andrew James, gusts were up to 65km/h at 6pm last night Wellington Airport.
He added that gust measurements are very localised and could have been very different in the area where the video was taken.
"There were pretty strong north-westerlies across the Wellington region and quite a few of our stations did record some reasonably impressive gust numbers," he said.
As the wind peaked overnight into the early hours of the morning, gusts of over 130km/h were recorded in Mount Kaukau, while gusts at Wellington Airport reached up to 117km/h, James said.
MetService issued a strong wind warning for last night's event, which expired at 9am this morning.
James said the wind has started to ease this morning and will continue will ease off the rest of the day.
