By JASON COLLIE
Mother Nature has had her say over the New Zealand flag flying from the Auckland Harbour Bridge by ripping two of them within hours.
The bridge will now remain flagless until Transit New Zealand managers return to work today and are able to buy another.
The authority put up the
flag two days before Christmas as a trial until the end of racing in the America's Cup and appealed for public feedback on whether to retain it permanently.
The first large flag was taken down on Sunday night after being torn by high winds and was replaced by a smaller, stronger "storm" flag. But after a few hours of buffeting it also had to be taken down, said Derrick Hitchens, Transit's regional traffic operations manager.
"The larger ceremonial flag has been shredded a little, because it wasn't designed to take the persistent wind. I have no more flags. We'll have to get hold of a supplier today and order another one."
