Cyclone Wilma packs a punch

Rotorua did not escape the wrath of Tropical Cyclone Wilma on Friday night with the most rain falling on the city within a 24-hour period since February 1967.
Roads in and out of the city were closed due to surface flooding and land slips, properties were flooded and rivers burst their banks after more than 140mm of rain fell on the city.
Rotorua weather analyst Brian Holden said 140.7mm of rain fell on the city on Friday night and Saturday morning, the most rainfall the city had seen in a 24-hour period since 198mm was recorded in February 1967.
Mr Holden said it was also the highest January rainfall total since records began with 441.3mm falling this month, smashing the previous record for January set in 1986 of 360mm. He said it was the most rain recorded for any month in Rotorua for at least 50 years.
However, he said wind was not an issue, with a maximum gust reported of just 21 knots (39km/h).
Rotorua police acting Senior Sergeant Mike Membery issued an emergency press release during the weekend warning residents not to take to the streets due to flooding, land slips and possible sewage contamination.
"State Highway 5 north to Hamilton was closed by a slip approximately 100m north of Tarukenga Rd near the Lakeview Golf Course. The Tauranga Direct Rd was closed in the gorge area as was the Hamurana to Mourea Rd," Mr Membery said.
All roads have since re-opened.
Rotorua District Council engineering services manager Andy Bell said the storm was a virtual repeat of last weekend's weather event but "probably more intense and of shorter duration".
He asked locals to avoid swimming or taking fish from swollen urban streams until at least tomorrow.
"This follows reports of some sewage overflows at the city wastewater treatment plant and a number of sewer pump stations."
Mr Bell said the storm's effects would be felt for some time and council crews would be out working to repair damage during the next few days.
Both the Utuhina and Ngongotaha streams burst their banks causing minor damage to some properties in the vicinity.
"In Rotorua city flash flooding occurred in several spots with areas around Tarewa, Sunset and Ford roads among the worst effected.
"For many property owners this is the second weekend in a row that they have had to deal with flooding."
The Fire Service was kept busy on Friday night with 16 call-outs for weather-related incidents.
Senior station officer Richard Anastasi said most of the call-outs had been minor flooding incidents.
Mr Anastasi said he had only heard of a further three call-outs on Saturday morning.
The council's emergency management co-ordinator, Pauline Hitchcock, said Rotorua's emergency response team was called out to help police with the flood management.
"Everything was fine in the end. We didn't come across any badly damaged properties."
Mrs Hitchcock said seven members of the 12-strong team were sent to Whakatane to help with sand bagging operations in the city, returning yesterday.
Ngongotaha's Leonie Pargeter said her property backed on to the Ngongotaha Stream reserve and their backyard was left flooded by Friday's rain.
"We woke up on Saturday morning to see a wall of water ... It only had another 4ft [1.2m] to reach the house."
Mrs Pargeter said none of their property was damaged but the area had been left covered with brown silt.
"We've been here eight years and we've had this twice in two weeks. This was much worse [than last weekend], at least 2ft [0.6m] higher," she said.
Meanwhile, the New Zealand MetService is predicting a much better start to the week with fine, sunny weather forecast until at least Thursday when there was a possibility of afternoon showers.