Heavy winds cause power cuts, road blocks

FILE

Homes across the Rotorua district have lost power in today's heavy winds and rain and roads have been blocked due to fallen trees and slips.

Residents in Reporoa, Rotoiti, Rotoma, Mamaku and Owhata have reported power cuts throughout the day.

A severe weather warning was issued by Met Service as a significant trough moved across New Zealand.

Unison Communications manager Danny Gough said they were too busy dealing with the outages to calculate the exact number of homes affected.

"A few of the lines were affected by the bad weather, generally being caused by bits of debris flying around.

"The more rural areas were worse, especially those properties with trees near by."

At around 3.20pm the Lake Okareka Rural Fire Service was called to the top of Summit Rd where a tree had come down.

Another tree was reported down by police on SH5 just south of Waimangu Rd near Tamaki Village. It was cleared shortly after.

There was also a slip on State Highway 30 at Lake Rotoma blocking one lane.

Some surface flooding was also reported on Lake Rd around 11am.