Storm Roundup plus videos 10th September 2013

[JennyLeez]

Around the News sites:

 Wild winds are moving north to pound central New Zealand after leaving a potentially multimillion-dollar trail of destruction in the South Island.
Gusts approaching 150kmh tore through Wellington overnight, downing trees, disrupting travel, and causing powerlines to arc.
MetService meteorologist Richard Finnie said gusts reached 146kmh on the Rimutaka Hill Rd, and by 6am it was still gusting at 130kmh on the hill between Upper Hutt and Wairarapa. At Kelburn the northwest wind was gusting to 115kmh and Mt Kaukau was at 135kmh this morning.
Fierce gales will continue pounding central New Zealand today, moving into Gisborne and Hawke's Bay from this afternoon.
Stuff.co.nz
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9149704/Storms-head-north-after-thrashing-south

Emergency services were kept busy overnight as severe weather wreaked havoc across the Canterbury region.
Fire services received at least 2,000 calls after 9pm, as gale force winds downed trees and cut power, closing dozens of roads.
Fires are continuing to burn in north Canterbury, as they couldn't be reached last night due to the weather.
The fire service had to stop attending calls about roofs lifting and trees falling, due to the large number of fires.
There have been a number of minor injuries reported for people in cars hit by falling trees.
Police say contractors have been working through the night, but not all roads are clear.
State Highway 1 through the northern suburbs of Christchurch is still closed and isn't expected to reopen until around 9am.
Police say motorists should expected delays in many parts of the city this morning and must drive with caution.
Almost 30,000 homes were without power overnight.
"Feels like the house is about to get blown away!" Christchurch resident Shalika told 3 News.
The MetService says the strongest wind gust monitored so far was more than 250km/h at Mt Hutt.
Christchurch Airport has reopened this morning after closing at 11:20pm.
3news.co.nz
http://www.3news.co.nz/Severe-storm-moves-north/tabid/423/articleID/312679/Default.aspx

Gusts of wind nearing 150kmh tore through Wellington overnight, downing trees, disrupting travel, and causing powerlines to arc.
And there is no let up in the northwest wind until tonight.
The Fire Service was called to 15 weather related call-outs overnight in the Wellington region including trampolines blown away, powerlines arcing, and a roof lifting off.
Wellington Electricity spokesman Drew Douglas said 72 homes were without power from about 7am today at Horokiwi – a small community inland from the Petone to Ngauranga stretch of State Highway 2.
The cause was not immediately known.
A crash on the highway was delaying the effort to fix the problem.
It was hoped it would be fixed by 10am.
KiwiRail cancelled its 5.45am service from Masterton to Wellington due to a tree that had blown over the line.
MetService meteorologist Richard Finnie said gusts reached 146kmh on the Rimutaka Hill Rd last night.
At 6am it was still gusting at 130kmh on the hill between Upper Hutt and Wairarapa.
At Kelburn the northwest wind was gusting to 115kmh and Mt Kaukau was at 135kmh this morning.
‘‘It’s more of a gustiness rather than a severe gale.’’
While the wind would abate later, a front was heading towards Wellington that would bring heavy rain.
A window was blown out of the Huddart Parker Building in Jervois Quay shortly after 8pm. 
Dominion Post
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/9150859/150kmh-wind-gusts-power-out

Videos:
New Zealand Herald
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/video.cfm?c_id=1&gal_cid=1&gallery_id=137741

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/video.cfm?c_id=1&gal_cid=1&gallery_id=137748

Attached:
St James Ave, Papanui, in Christchurch.

• Tweet

[David]

Here are graphs for Ashburton and Christchurch - data is from Metservice (gathered by my own secret data collection tool...)

[Weather Display]

that 133km at the airport is impressive
and it sounds like west melton got even stronger

the airport is very open though to the NW

[JennyLeez]

Lightning strikes have started fires and strong winds have toppled trees, powerlines and torn roofs off houses in Christchurch and surrounding areas as a storm batters the lower part of the country tonight.

Nine fire appliances were needed at a hedge fire in the Christchurch suburb of West Melton after it spread to a shed and eight appliances were battling a burning cluster of trees that threatened nearby houses in Ashburton, said a Fire spokesperson.

In Leeston, there was a fire at the showgrounds, a cowshed caught alight in Southbridge and in a wood merchant in Barhill was also ablaze.

St John reported no injuries from the events that included trees falling on occupied cars and roofs being blown from houses.

The lower south Island has been battered by a fierce front that has wreaked havoc and forecasters warn it is on its way north.

MetService has issued severe weather warnings for the lower half of the country as the front moves over the South Island before moving over the lower North Island tomorrow.

Fiordland bore the brunt of the front this morning with heavy rain and a spectacular thunderstorm which heralded the arrival of the bad weather.

Cromwell resident Jade McLellan said what she thought was a tornado picked up her father's 9-metre boat off a trailer and flung the two-tonne vessel over the neighbour's fence about 11am.

"We had a big gust of wind come through which picked up the neighbour's trampoline and spun that above fence level. Then we saw the boat flip up off its trailer and into the next door neighbour's yard. Now it's quite demolished," she said.

Neighbours had seen what they thought was the funnel shape of a tornado approaching their house about 11am.

"The wind really picked up and was throwing itself on the house and mum was yelling at everyone to get into the lounge. As I came through the hallway I looked through the sliding door and saw the boat flipping. It's quite crazy," Ms McLellan said.

Fire Service southern region operations manager Chris Munro said the South Island's firefighters had been very busy with weather-related calls today.

"We've got multiple calls at the moment: trees down, powerlines down, grass fires caused by the powerlines, trees down across the road."

Firefighters were also called when a house in Fox Glacier township caught fire after being struck by lightning around midday.

It was out by the time crews arrived, Mr Munro said.

The majority of calls were from Otago and Canterbury but there were also some small jobs on the West Coast due to heavy rain.

Dunedin police said motorists travelling between Oamaru and Dunedin should take extreme care as severe winds battered Otago's east coast.

They were attending two traffic incidents on State Highway 1, including a truck which overturned due to heavy winds.

Air New Zealand said a number of flights to and from Queensland and Dunedin had been diverted or cancelled.

Affected passengers were being accommodated on other air services or by road, the airline said.

[JennyLeez]

Thousands of rural Cantabrians remain without power, and many will not be reconnected until Tuesday, electricity company Orion says.

Four thousand customers from areas including Springfield, Darfield and Greendale have been without power since gale force winds struck the area last week.

At its peak, 28,000 customers lost their power after the storm.

"We are continuing to move in an east to west direction to restore supply to affected customers,'' Orion chief executive Rob Jamieson said.

"Our priority remains to reconnect the areas with the most customers first. We are also continuing to work with Selwyn District Council to prioritise water supplies.''

Many lines remained damaged and as linesmen worked through the network repair new damage continued to be found.

more:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11124763&ref=rss