“[I] reached the subway with my gumboots already on, because this seems to happen whenever we have extreme weather,” Nick Hodgson said.
“It reached maybe six to eight inches at its deepest.”
All trains are off the tracks in Wellington this morning after a train collided with a downed tree in Wairarapa, but Hodgson uses the subway to walk between Avalon and Naenae.
“I’m probably the only one dumb enough to be in that situation because driving 1km to work seems wasteful,” he said.
The station walkway was only flooded at the two entrances, while the middle was dry.
“The pumps just can’t keep up,” he said. “That infrastructure wasn’t upgraded when they remodelled the subway a year or two ago, unfortunately.”
Hodgson was hoping the water had not risen above the top of his gumboots when it was time for him to walk home again.
Between 120 to 150 mm of rain is expected on top of what has already fallen today, especially in eastern Wairarapa and the Tararua Range.
Thousands of homes are without power, multiple schools are closed and flights due to leave Wellington Airport this morning have been cancelled. Trains in the region and Cook Strait ferry crossings have also been cancelled.
A 193km/hr wind gust at Wellington’s Mt Kaukau overnight is the third-strongest ever measured there since records began in 1994. The strongest gust ever recorded at Mt Kaukau was 202km/hr.
MetService warned that damage to trees, powerlines, and roofs is likely, with disruption to transport and power supply. Dangerous driving conditions are expected, especially for high-sided vehicles and motorcycles.
Streams and rivers may also rise rapidly. Surface flooding and slips are expected.
Wellington Region Emergency Management said the region was “wet, windy and wild out there” and people should stay indoors if possible.
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 12 years.
