Northcote College will shut for a week after a fire destroyed one of its buildings on Friday.

In a post on Facebook, the college said it had “been advised by the Ministry of Education and specialist contractors to close the school for the safe demolition and removal of the fire damaged building which includes some asbestos cladding”.

The school will be moving to online learning from Monday 23 February to Friday 27 February.

Students and whānau have been urged to check emails for further information.

The fire broke out about 12.15pm on Friday afternoon, and smoke could be seen billowing from the school’s sports pavillion, a large wooden hall with a high pointed roof.

A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said the first call about the fire came in at 12.17pm, during a one-hour strike by the Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU).

It took the volunteer Silverdale crew about 17 minutes to arrive at the school.

Northcote College principal Vicki Barrie said she was proud of how staff and students responded to the fire in the sports pavillion.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Residents across the lower North Islandare getting increasingly frustrated with power providers and the lines company, with one 92-year-old forced to cart buckets of water to flush the toilet.

Schools closed and power was cut to thousands when wild weather rolled across the lower North Island overnight on Sunday.

Wellington Electricity confirmed about 700 homes in Wellington were still without power on Friday morning, while Powerco said electricity was yet to be restored to 178 homes in Wairarapa and about 1500 across the Manawatū-Whanganui regions.

Both companies said the damage to the networks had been extensive and acknowledged the frustration and ongoing disruption to those who were yet to be reconnected.

Wellington Electricity said it would donate $10 to KidsCan Charitable Trust for every customer whose power would not be restored on Friday, and that it had pulled in additional resources and cancelled all planned work to do so.

Nonagenarian forced to carry buckets of water

In Wairarapa, 92-year-old Patrick Craddock said it took until just after midday Thursday to reconnect his and his partner Peggy’s rural property.

He said they relied on electricity to power their home’s water pumps, and were forced to carry buckets of water nearly 50m to fill the cistern of their toilet.

He said a nearby neighbour – also going without power – was ill, and he hoped their supplier would have prioritised people who were elderly, sick or disabled.

“It seems to be a bit crazy that the people who are in need most have to contact Powerco and say ‘please help us’. It would be useful to have a little list so that people who are sick and disabled could fill in a little form and send it to Powerco so that something happens, because when these accidents happen it’s bloody hard to deal with it.”

RNZ put that to Powerco. It said the storm had initially affected more that 25,000 properties on its network and the severity of the damage was requiring “complete rebuilds of sections of the electricity network before power can be restored”.

“Medically dependent customers can register their needs with their electricity retailer (the company they pay their power bill to).

“Being registered does not guarantee an uninterrupted power supply, especially during faults or severe weather, so customers are encouraged to have an emergency response plan and backup options in place.”

Confusion over who to call

The onsite house manager for a central Wellington boarding house told RNZ he was shocked that a loose power connection – which sent sparks flying onto the street below – went unaddressed for days.

Robert Frazer said Fire and Emergency cordoned off the area on The Terrace but as of Thursday evening, the boarding house’s 15 tenants were still in the dark.

He said Wellington Electricity and his power provider had been contacted “multiple times”.

“You contact Wellington Electricity and they say, ‘We’re not the people you should contact, you have to contact Genesis,’ our power provider.

“So then I contact Genesis… and they say, ‘We’re not the people who actually fix it so you need to contact Wellington Electricity,’ and so it just keeps going around like that.

“No one’s prepared to say, ‘Right we’re the ones that are responsible, we’re coming out now.’”

Frazer said in a city with high winds, it was disappointing that there were not contingencies in place.

“Do you expect us as customers to put [up] with – whenever there’s strong wind in Wellington – to be without power for days”?

“If this was a really cold day in the winter time – we’ve got no heating right now – that is really substandard.”

His power was eventually restored on Friday morning.

One of the hostel’s residents, Gareth Mackay, said the first few days were manageable but it was getting harder to deal with the longer it dragged on.

“No fridges, no cooking, we can’t even shower because the hot water’s connected to power as well. It’s not good.

“I don’t think we’re doing very well honestly. It’s ridiculous.”

Genesis Energy was contacted for comment. A spokesperson for Wellington Electricity said customers must first contact their electricity retailer, who would then log a job.

“It’s essential that customers call their retailer in an outage. We cannot identify individual property outages unless a call is logged, and if one isn’t, we’ll assume the customer is part of a wider area outage.

“If someone spots anything they believe is an electricity hazard they should call our emergency line on 0800 248 148. If anyone’s in danger or there’s a fire or serious risk to property, they should call 111 immediately.”

Solo mother of two Nicola Hill was still offline after she woke to find no power in her Island Bay home on Tuesday morning.

“We just don’t know when it’s going to come back on, but we’ve been told that someone has to be at the house to allow access to help to fix the problem.

“That just means that I’ve had to be at home without access to power for the last three days. Still no one’s turned up, and you don’t have any timeframes for when things are going to be resolved,” Hill said.

Hill said the only response to her daily attempts to contact Powershop – her supplier – and Wellington Electricity had been a text asking customers to contact Powershop if their power had come back.

She said she was frustrated, but conscious of others about the country suffering worse damage.

“I think ours are just inconveniences but it does make me worry about our infrastructure and about how we’re going to cope with some of the climate-related storms that we’re going to expect.

“When we can’t have functioning sewerage and power restored very easily after these sort of – likely to be common – events.”

She felt power companies needed to be more proactive to bring in extra staff and contractors as well as establishing more reliable communications when responding to adverse weather events.

“The system at the communication end isn’t working. You get different people and they’ve got different levels of expertise. The first person didn’t know what the second person knew.

“First of all I was told it was going to be four to six hours, the next person said, ‘It’s not going to be that, it’s going to be more like 18 hours.’ Just a whole lot of really changing messages.”

A spokesperson for Powershop said they were sorry to hear that some customers were still without electricity, “although people can be affected by power cuts like this regardless of which retailer they are with”.

“Responsibility for the restoration of power sits with Wellington Electricity (just as it does with other lines companies around NZ),” they said.

Wellington Electricity said Sunday night’s winds were the strongest to hit the capital since 2013 and that it was dealing with more power cuts than expected.

It said since then power had been restored to about 21,000 homes. More than 60 faults affecting large areas had been fixed, as well as 1000 single-property failures.

A spokesperson said the “vast majority” of area outages were fixed within two days, but they’d been left with a “long tail of single-property” power cuts.

“We’re also not always able to immediately identify these faults, as some may be initially hidden by larger area outages. Some of these jobs have also been complex, requiring follow visits which has affected our original timeline.”

Downed trees prompt free green waste disposal

Wellington City Council said a major clean-up was underway following the southerly storm that ripped through the capital.

Parks and open spaces manager Bradley Schroder said the impact of the vicious winds was everywhere, with trees down all over the city, and would likely take months to clear.

The council said crews with chainsaws had been busy dealing with broken branches hanging from trees on roadsides and in the Botanic Gardens and cemeteries.

Schroder expected the 900 jobs lodged with the council to rise.

Wellington residents could dispose of green waste at the Southern Landfill for free until 5pm on Thursday 26 February. The South Wairarapa and Carterton District councils would also provide free green waste disposal this weekend.

Residents in Masterton would also be offered free disposal, but have been asked to hold onto their green waste until the disposal site – which is dealing with power issues – can accept it.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Parts of Auckland’s Northcote College have been destroyed in a fire which broke out during a firefighters strike.

Fire and Emergency NZ said they were called to the school about 12.15pm on Friday.

Smoke could be seen from the Harbour Bridge, billowing from the school’s sports pavillion, a large wooden hall with a high pointed roof.

A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said the first call about the fire came in at 12.17pm, during a one-hour strike by the Professional Firefighters Union.

It took the volunteer Silverdale crew about 17 minutes to arrive at the school.

It appeared they had been close to the area for another job.

The first career firefighters arrived at 1.13pm, he said.

Communications call centre staff were also on strike for the hour, with managers taking 111 calls and cooridinating call-outs.

On social media, a school spokesperson said: “There is an active fire at Northcote College in the sports pavilion. The fire service is here.

“All students have been evacuated to the other end of the school and are safe.”

On its website, a spokesperson said the school would be closing for the day at 2pm.

“Some students may not have their bag because of the evacuation. We are asking students to go home, if they can, without their bag. Students who are unable to get home or need to call home are meeting in the hall and will be supported by staff.

“An email to all students and whānau with further information will be sent later today.”

The building was 121 years old and was a protected historic building.

Auckland Council listed it as a category A heritage listing, meaning it had outstanding historical and aesthetic significance.

It was influenced by popular styles from the time, including Queen Anne and Edwardian Classical, a council document said.

“Opened in 1905, it was built to address issues of overcrowding at the original 1877 school, and therefore provides evidence of the rapid expansion of the suburb and its population during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth centuries,” it said.

“The school also continues to represent important aspects of collective memory and identity for the generations of students and teachers who used this place from 1905 and continue to use it today.”

Just last month another large fire broke out during strike action.

A building in Pakuranga was completely destroyed by fire and a person was seriously hurt.

At the time, Pakuranga MP Simeon Brown said he was “angry” on behalf of those impacted by the fire due to it happening during the strike.

“Union action that delays a response to an emergency is quite frankly reckless and the union needs to put a stop to these reckless strikes which endanger lives, homes, and businesses.”

New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union secretary Wattie Watson said contingencies were meant to be put in place during the strike.

Northcote MP Dan Bidois thanked local police and firefighters from across Auckland for the quick response – and to the school staff for an “orderly fire evacuation”.

“Glad everyone is safe.”

Bidois said the building on fire was used to store gym equipment.

On social media, North Shore councillor Richard Hills said it was “so sad” to see another fire at the school.

“It will be hugely upsetting to students, staff and school whānau, especially as they’re just getting back to normal, after the previous fire, and recent opening of new and upgraded buildings post construction.

Hills said it was likely to cause traffic delays in surrounding areas and urged people to stay away if they didn’t need to be there.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Residents across the Wellington region are getting increasingly frustrated with power providers and the lines company, with one 92-year-old forced to cart buckets of water to flush the toilet.

Schools closed and power was cut to thousands when wild weather rolled across the lower North Island overnight on Sunday.

Wellington Electricity confirmed about 700 homes in Wellington were still without power on Friday morning, while Powerco said electricity was yet to be restored to 178 homes in Wairarapa and about 1500 across the Manawatū-Whanganui regions.

Both companies said the damage to the networks had been extensive and acknowledged the frustration and ongoing disruption to those who were yet to be reconnected.

Wellington Electricity said it would donate $10 to KidsCan Charitable Trust for every customer whose power would not be restored on Friday, and that it had pulled in additional resources and cancelled all planned work to do so.

Nonagenarian forced to carry buckets of water

In Wairarapa, 92-year-old Patrick Craddock said it took until just after midday Thursday to reconnect his and his partner Peggy’s rural property.

He said they relied on electricity to power their home’s water pumps, and were forced to carry buckets of water nearly 50m to fill the cistern of their toilet.

He said a nearby neighbour – also going without power – was ill, and he hoped their supplier would have prioritised people who were elderly, sick or disabled.

“It seems to be a bit crazy that the people who are in need most have to contact Powerco and say ‘please help us’. It would be useful to have a little list so that people who are sick and disabled could fill in a little form and send it to Powerco so that something happens, because when these accidents happen it’s bloody hard to deal with it.”

RNZ put that to Powerco. It said the storm had initially affected more that 25,000 properties on its network and the severity of the damage was requiring “complete rebuilds of sections of the electricity network before power can be restored”.

“Medically dependent customers can register their needs with their electricity retailer (the company they pay their power bill to).

“Being registered does not guarantee an uninterrupted power supply, especially during faults or severe weather, so customers are encouraged to have an emergency response plan and backup options in place.”

Confusion over who to call

The onsite house manager for a central Wellington boarding house told RNZ he was shocked that a loose power connection – which sent sparks flying onto the street below – went unaddressed for days.

Robert Frazer said Fire and Emergency cordoned off the area on The Terrace but as of Thursday evening, the boarding house’s 15 tenants were still in the dark.

He said Wellington Electricity and his power provider had been contacted “multiple times”.

“You contact Wellington Electricity and they say, ‘We’re not the people you should contact, you have to contact Genesis,’ our power provider.

“So then I contact Genesis… and they say, ‘We’re not the people who actually fix it so you need to contact Wellington Electricity,’ and so it just keeps going around like that.

“No one’s prepared to say, ‘Right we’re the ones that are responsible, we’re coming out now.’”

Frazer said in a city with high winds, it was disappointing that there were not contingencies in place.

“Do you expect us as customers to put [up] with – whenever there’s strong wind in Wellington – to be without power for days”?

“If this was a really cold day in the winter time – we’ve got no heating right now – that is really substandard.”

His power was eventually restored on Friday morning.

One of the hostel’s residents, Gareth Mackay, said the first few days were manageable but it was getting harder to deal with the longer it dragged on.

“No fridges, no cooking, we can’t even shower because the hot water’s connected to power as well. It’s not good.

“I don’t think we’re doing very well honestly. It’s ridiculous.”

Genesis Energy was contacted for comment. A spokesperson for Wellington Electricity said customers must first contact their electricity retailer, who would then log a job.

“It’s essential that customers call their retailer in an outage. We cannot identify individual property outages unless a call is logged, and if one isn’t, we’ll assume the customer is part of a wider area outage.

“If someone spots anything they believe is an electricity hazard they should call our emergency line on 0800 248 148. If anyone’s in danger or there’s a fire or serious risk to property, they should call 111 immediately.”

Solo mother of two Nicola Hill was still offline after she woke to find no power in her Island Bay home on Tuesday morning.

“We just don’t know when it’s going to come back on, but we’ve been told that someone has to be at the house to allow access to help to fix the problem.

“That just means that I’ve had to be at home without access to power for the last three days. Still no one’s turned up, and you don’t have any timeframes for when things are going to be resolved,” Hill said.

Hill said the only response to her daily attempts to contact Powershop – her supplier – and Wellington Electricity had been a text asking customers to contact Powershop if their power had come back.

She said she was frustrated, but conscious of others about the country suffering worse damage.

“I think ours are just inconveniences but it does make me worry about our infrastructure and about how we’re going to cope with some of the climate-related storms that we’re going to expect.

“When we can’t have functioning sewerage and power restored very easily after these sort of – likely to be common – events.”

She felt power companies needed to be more proactive to bring in extra staff and contractors as well as establishing more reliable communications when responding to adverse weather events.

“The system at the communication end isn’t working. You get different people and they’ve got different levels of expertise. The first person didn’t know what the second person knew.

“First of all I was told it was going to be four to six hours, the next person said, ‘It’s not going to be that, it’s going to be more like 18 hours.’ Just a whole lot of really changing messages.”

A spokesperson for Powershop said they were sorry to hear that some customers were still without electricity, “although people can be affected by power cuts like this regardless of which retailer they are with”.

“Responsibility for the restoration of power sits with Wellington Electricity (just as it does with other lines companies around NZ),” they said.

Wellington Electricity said Sunday night’s winds were the strongest to hit the capital since 2013 and that it was dealing with more power cuts than expected.

It said since then power had been restored to about 21,000 homes. More than 60 faults affecting large areas had been fixed, as well as 1000 single-property failures.

A spokesperson said the “vast majority” of area outages were fixed within two days, but they’d been left with a “long tail of single-property” power cuts.

“We’re also not always able to immediately identify these faults, as some may be initially hidden by larger area outages. Some of these jobs have also been complex, requiring follow visits which has affected our original timeline.”

Downed trees prompt free green waste disposal

Wellington City Council said a major clean-up was underway following the southerly storm that ripped through the capital.

Parks and open spaces manager Bradley Schroder said the impact of the vicious winds was everywhere, with trees down all over the city, and would likely take months to clear.

The council said crews with chainsaws had been busy dealing with broken branches hanging from trees on roadsides and in the Botanic Gardens and cemeteries.

Schroder expected the 900 jobs lodged with the council to rise.

Wellington residents could dispose of green waste at the Southern Landfill for free until 5pm on Thursday 26 February. The South Wairarapa and Carterton District councils would also provide free green waste disposal this weekend.

Residents in Masterton would also be offered free disposal, but have been asked to hold onto their green waste until the disposal site – which is dealing with power issues – can accept it.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Firefighters are tackling a blaze at Auckland’s Northcote College.

Fire and Emergency NZ said they were called to the school about 12.15pm on Friday.

A crew from Silverdale is in attendance and more crews are on their way to the scene.

Smoke can be seen from the Harbour Bridge.

On social media, a school spokesperson said: “There is an active fire at Northcote College in the sports pavilion. The fire service is here.

“All students have been evacuated to the other end of the school and are safe.

“We are waiting for further direction from the fire service and will update you as we can.”

The Silverdale Volunteer Fire Brigade, which was nearly half an hour away from the college, attended even though the closest fire station, Birkenhead, is four minutes away.

The fire started during the one hour strike by the Professional Firefighters Union.

FENZ said during that hour, it was relying on volunteer brigades.

There were now other brigades on the scene.

Just last month another large fire broke out during strike action.

A building in Pakuranga was completely destroyed by fire and a person was seriously hurt.

At the time, Pakuranga MP Simeon Brown said he was “angry” on behalf of those impacted by the fire due to it happening during the strike.

“Union action that delays a response to an emergency is quite frankly reckless and the union needs to put a stop to these reckless strikes which endanger lives, homes, and businesses.”

New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union secretary Wattie Watson said contingencies were meant to be put in place during the strike.

On social media, North Shore councillor Richard Hills said it was “so sad” to see another fire at the school.

“It will be hugely upsetting to students, staff and school whānau, especially as they’re just getting back to normal, after the previous fire, and recent opening of new and upgraded buildings post construction.

“The fire service are there and thankfully all students have been evacuated to the other end of the school and are safe. The fire is very much still active.”

Hills said it was likely to cause traffic delays in surrounding areas and urged people to stay away if they didn’t need to be there.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Firefighters are tackling a blaze at Auckland’s Northcote College.

Fire and Emergency NZ said they were called to the school about 12.15pm on Friday.

A crew from Silverdale is in attendance and more crews are on their way to the scene.

Smoke can be seen from the Harbour Bridge.

On social media, a school spokesperson said: “There is an active fire at Northcote College in the sports pavilion. The fire service is here.

“All students have been evacuated to the other end of the school and are safe.

“We are waiting for further direction from the fire service and will update you as we can.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

The four people who were hospitalised following a chemical incident at a meat processing plant in Levin have since been discharged.

Emergency services were called to the Alliance Group site on Hamaria Road at about 6.30pm on Thursday.

St John said four people were taken to Palmerston North Hospital following the incident – one in a serious condition and three in moderate condition.

An Alliance Group spokesperson said they had all now been discharged, but two were expected to return to hospital later on Friday for additional checks.

The spokesperson said processing at the plant resumed after Fire and Emergency (FENZ) handed back the site, and an internal investigation was underway.

WorkSafe said it had been notified of the incident, and that it would be conducting its own investigation.

“We are currently making initial enquiries to understand the circumstances of the event and will respond accordingly.”

Firefighters from Levin, Ōtaki and Palmerston North attended and carried out a precautionary decontamination.

Five ambulances, three rapid response units, two operations managers and a St John major incident support team initially responded to the incident.

A further 18 people were assessed and treated at the scene for a minor condition but did not need hospital transport, St John said.

A spokesperson for St John said the gas involved at the site was chlorine.

The Alliance group clarified that it was a “chemical incident” rather than a gas leak.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

MIL OSI

The number of patients being treated at an industrial site in Levin has risen to 22.

Hato Hone St John ambulance, police and Fire and Emergency were called to Hamaria Road at around 6:30pm, after a chemical incident.

Firefighters set up decontamination gear at Alliance Group’s meat processing plant after reports of a gas leak.

Five ambulances, three rapid response units, two operations managers and a St John Major Incident Support Team were called to the scene.

A fire crew from Otaki has also been called in to help Levin firefighters and a specialist fire unit arrived from Palmerston North.

A spokesperson for Alliance Group confirmed processing at the plant had suspended after a chemical incident at the site led to a “gas reaction”.

St John says while it’s not yet know whether any of the patients is badly injured, no one has been taken to hospital yet and no further ambulances have been requested.

Police have cordoned off the area.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

• Tower paid out $12m already in bad weather claims, expects more
• Company has $45m fund for big events, a quarter already spent
• Full year underlying profit will be almost halved if events fund exhausted
• Chair criticises lack of action on climate change as “costing lives and money”

Local insurance company Tower expects a rise in weather-related claims will nearly halve its profits this year, as its chair criticised the lack of action to confront climate change.

The company’s annual meeting heard it had already used about $12 million of its budgeted $45m to cover large events, and expected more costs from the storms of the past week.

“This includes the October windstorm, the Timaru hailstorm in November, and the late January nationwide storm,” chief executive Paul Johnston said.

“Claims from the stormy weather across New Zealand over the past few days are still being assessed and at this early stage, Tower expects costs to exceed its … large events threshold.”

It forecast its full year underlying profit would be between $55m-$65m from a record $107m in 2025 if it used all of its large events fund.

Johnston told the meeting the first part of the year has been steady with growth in house policies, premium growth, and adding new customers.

The company said its risk based pricing meant it building a less vulnerable business, while its technical upgrades have sped up the processing of claims with more motor claims were being referred directly to repairers.

Climate change costing lives and money

The retiring chair, business veteran Michael Stiassny, said too little progress was being made in tackling climate change.

“In the wake of the tragic events at Mount Maunganui, Papamoa and Warkworth, we face a chilling reality. Climate change is here, and it’s costing lives and money.”

He said some progress to tackle the impacts of extreme weather events had been “haphazard, inadequate and painfully slow”.

Stiassny said three years after Cyclone Gabrielle there had been no decisive action to prevent loss of life, prevent building on flood plains, active measures to protect against floods from more frequent and severe rain events.”

“Are we confident that our infrastructure is resilient and will cope with large storms that are no longer anomalies? The answer is a resounding no.”

Insurance review questioned

Stiassny also questioned the planned review of the insurance industry ordered by the government earlier this month from financial regulators to look at the high cost of insurance and growing evidence that some companies are refusing to insure certain towns or parts of towns.

“The rate of premium increase is either on par with the sum insured increase or much lower. In short, premiums have not climbed as much as some Ministers have said,” he said.

“The real issue when it comes to insurance affordability is the cost of living more generally for Kiwis. With costs of all goods and services spiralling up significantly more than incomes, it is inevitable that some people are unable to afford insurance.”

He said levies for Fire and Emergency and Natural Hazards Insurance made up about 40 percent of premiums, over which it had no control.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Residents in South Wairarapa are turning to one another in the face of “unprecedented” flooding that triggered several evacuations overnight.

The stormy weather lashing the region has caused rivers to burst their banks, inundating roads and cutting off communities.

Thousands of homes were without power across Wairarapa on Monday morning, roads have been closed and schools and trains cancelled.

Flooding has isolated settlements from Pirinoa to Lake Ferry and the south coast at Cape Palliser – which is being battered by southerly gales and huge waves.

The wild weather meant South Wairarapa farmer Scotty Macdonald didn’t get much sleep, after helping to evacuate three homes in the early hours of Monday morning.

Macdonald said the call-outs weren’t official.

“We couldn’t get to Lake Ferry to get the fire trucks so we were just in our personal wagons.

He said a couple of the homes were already on their way out the door, but the first call at 4am on Monday necessitated a wake-up.

A farmer shifting animals had got in touch with him directly after becoming concerned about flooding at his neighbour’s place.

“It’s previously flooded so we knew there was a risk there.

“Within another hour the house was probably close to a metre underwater, but at the time it was only lapping around the edges.”

The resident was woken up “very politely, of course” and told it was time to go.

“It’s time to boogie buddy.”

Macdonald said the extent of the flooding has split already cut off settlements into little islands on high ground.

“All along the road – where the rivers meet the road – the roads have been flooded, so we’ve kind of got little sections of population all the way along that are semi-isolated.

“I’ve been here all my life and we’ve had events like this before, but as far as the water levels go, this would be the highest. There are unprecedented areas that haven’t seen this kind of flooding before,” he said.

Macdonald said reception was patchy, but support agencies had been making phone calls and neighbours were checking in on one another where they could.

He said the only thing to do now was to hunker down and wait for the water to drop.

“It’s just too dangerous to go anywhere at the moment.”

Another resident in the areas told RNZ it had been a “long and loud night” and they were flooded in.

“[We’re] in the process of getting fallen trees of the driveways and the road in case the rivers decide to overflow.

“High tide’s not until 5, so we’ll be watching how the day goes!”

They said friends in Whangaimoana beach have had “their whole house go under”.

Fire and Emergency’s Ian Wright said earlier on Monday that residents in Ngawi had been evacuated to Pirinoa Hall due to rising floodwaters, as well as some tourists at The Pinnacles Campgrounds.

On Monday morning former South Wairarapa District Councillor Brian Jephson told Local Democracy Reporting (LDR)’s Sue Teodoro that Cape Palliser Road on the Wellington side of Ngawi was damaged where a stream had blown out a culvert.

“It’s impassable,” he said.

“There’s not much point going down there until the water stops going through it.”

Jephson said while he had about 62mm of rain, his daughter further north had more than 200mm.

“This is nothing new for us down this way,” he said.

Powerco reported at 8.45am on Monday that storms across the lower North Island left 23,455 customers without power.

The hardest-hit areas were the Wairarapa with 8166 outages, Whanganui with 7846, and Manawatū with 6961.

“Wild weather is expected to continue in parts of the network today which may hamper reconnection work and cause more outages,” a spokesperson told LDR.

-Additional reporting by LDR

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

About 20 cars remain stranded by a slip in remote rural Taihape, with a Defence Force helicopter the only way to see how they are faring.

It may also be the only way to rescue them.

Rangitikei mayor Andy Watson said there was virtually no cellphone coverage.

He understood it was a local farmer who raised the alarm, calling emergency services to report what he could see.

It had been very hard to get information, he said.

It appears the cars took a back route after State Highway 1 was closed.

“They’ve found flood water that was too deep to drive through then slip has come down behind them and effectively blocked their path,” he said.

The helicopter from Ohakea would do a flyover to get a better idea of the situation and to rescue people if there was no other way.

The area had not been possible to reach by road yet, he said.

Residents in the wider district have told RNZ there are trees blocking may roads, with people not able to get to work.

State Highway 1 has been closed around Taihape.

Watson said it some of the roads the cars took would normally only see “half a dozen” cars a day, he said.

Rangitikei District Council said contractors were working to clear debris, and it was working with Civil Defence on a response to the situation.

Police said they were notified at 12.30pm.

St John Ambulance said it had so far not been required.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Heavy rain and wind is hitting the capital, flooding streets in Lower Hutt, closing multiple schools, cutting off power, and bringing trees and debris down in the city.

Meanwhile, the entire Manawatū-Whanganui region is under a state of emergency, where some evacuations have taken place in Manawatū and on the coast of the Tararua district.

Waipā and Ōtorohanga in South Waikato remain under a states of emergency after significant flooding over the weekend.

In Wellington, regional and metro trains have stopped, while ferries and flights have been cancelled.

Streets in Epuni and Naenae appear flooded, with reports on social media of some cars getting stuck in Lower Hutt.

On Monday morning, Powerco said about 23,000 properties across its network had lost connections, and in the Wellington region about 10,000 had had their connections cut.

The storm has left a big mess for the owner of a Polish restaurant at Plimmerton, north of Wellington, to clean up after an exterior wall blew in.

Owner of Topor Bistro, Steve Askew said luckily another local business alerted them as otherwise they might not have been back in till Wednesday.

“I’m sure we’re going to be closed a couple of weeks,” he said.

“All of the ceiling on the inside has gone. All the studs and stuff they’re quite wet, I don’t know if they need to be replaced or if they can just be dried out. The hole in the wall needs to be fixed.”

Askew said the kitchen and main appliances are on the other side and escaped.

He said up till this the bistro had not been doing too badly recently.

A growing list of schools in the Wellington region are also closed due to the terrible weather.

Those include Wellington High School, Wellington East Girls’ College, and St Orans College in the Hutt Valley.

Rongotai College in Wellington has closed for the day with tree debris littering its grounds.

Principal Kevin Carter said he was at the boys’ school in Kilbirnie at 5pm on Sunday and everything was fine, but on Monday morning it was a different story.

“The grounds are covered with branches from trees that have come down … It’s pretty wild and unsafe here on the south coast,” he said.

Some gutters were down but otherwise buildings were not damaged by the look of it. He had had a quick walkaround and would do a closer check later in the hopes they could clean up and the wind would drop.

Carter said they would decide later whether to reopen tomorrow. All families had been advised by email or text the school was closed, he said.

Air New Zealand’s chief operating officer Alex Marren told Nine to Noon nearly 100 flights have been cancelled in and out of Wellington on Sunday and Monday morning.

All flights in the capital, Palmerston North and Napier have been paused until at least 11am, at which point the airline will reassess the weather conditions, Marren said.

She said there had been some “infrastructure impacts” and the airline was working closely with Wellington Airport on that.

In Wairarapa, evacuations are underway in Masterton due to the threat of falling trees.

Wairarapa assistant commander Ian Wright said it had been a busy night with weather-related call outs, which continue, and that trees coming down were the biggest risk.

He said there are shallow rooted trees on Lincoln Road that are “very, very unstable, so both roads have been closed and the people have been evacuated”.

There have been no reports of injuries.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Heavy rain and wind is hitting the capital, flooding streets in Lower Hutt, closing multiple schools, cutting off power, and bringing trees and debris down in the city.

Meanwhile, the entire Manawatū-Whanganui region is under a state of emergency, where some evacuations have taken place in Manawatū and on the coast of the Tararua district.

Waipā and Ōtorohanga in South Waikato remain under a states of emergency after significant flooding over the weekend.

In Wellington, regional and metro trains have stopped, while ferries and flights have been cancelled.

Streets in Epuni and Naenae appear flooded, with reports on social media of some cars getting stuck in Lower Hutt.

On Monday morning, Powerco said about 23,000 properties across its network had lost connections, and in the Wellington region about 10,000 had had their connections cut.

The storm has left a big mess for the owner of a Polish restaurant at Plimmerton, north of Wellington, to clean up after an exterior wall blew in.

Owner of Topor Bistro, Steve Askew said luckily another local business alerted them as otherwise they might not have been back in till Wednesday.

“I’m sure we’re going to be closed a couple of weeks,” he said.

“All of the ceiling on the inside has gone. All the studs and stuff they’re quite wet, I don’t know if they need to be replaced or if they can just be dried out. The hole in the wall needs to be fixed.”

Askew said the kitchen and main appliances are on the other side and escaped.

He said up till this the bistro had not been doing too badly recently.

A growing list of schools in the Wellington region are also closed due to the terrible weather.

Those include Wellington High School, Wellington East Girls’ College, and St Orans College in the Hutt Valley.

Rongotai College in Wellington has closed for the day with tree debris littering its grounds.

Principal Kevin Carter said he was at the boys’ school in Kilbirnie at 5pm on Sunday and everything was fine, but on Monday morning it was a different story.

“The grounds are covered with branches from trees that have come down … It’s pretty wild and unsafe here on the south coast,” he said.

Some gutters were down but otherwise buildings were not damaged by the look of it. He had had a quick walkaround and would do a closer check later in the hopes they could clean up and the wind would drop.

Carter said they would decide later whether to reopen tomorrow. All families had been advised by email or text the school was closed, he said.

Air New Zealand’s chief operating officer Alex Marren told Nine to Noon nearly 100 flights have been cancelled in and out of Wellington on Sunday and Monday morning.

All flights in the capital, Palmerston North and Napier have been paused until at least 11am, at which point the airline will reassess the weather conditions, Marren said.

She said there had been some “infrastructure impacts” and the airline was working closely with Wellington Airport on that.

In Wairarapa, evacuations are underway in Masterton due to the threat of falling trees.

Wairarapa assistant commander Ian Wright said it had been a busy night with weather-related call outs, which continue, and that trees coming down were the biggest risk.

He said there are shallow rooted trees on Lincoln Road that are “very, very unstable, so both roads have been closed and the people have been evacuated”.

There have been no reports of injuries.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

MIL OSI

Follow the latest in RNZ’s live blog above

People have been evacuated in Manawatū and on the coast of the Tararua District due to rising river levels.

The entire Manawatū-Whanganui region is in a state of emergency with heavy rain, flooding as severe weather lashes the lower North Island.

Thousands of properties have had power cut off.

Fire and Emergency have had 185 call outs across the lower North Island – with roofs lifting, power lines down, and trees and windows being blown in.

Five districts – Manawatū, Rangitīkei, Tararua, Waipā and Ōtorohanga District – are in states of emergency.

On Sunday afternoon, all remaining flights in and out of Wellington for the day were cancelled, as were Cook Strait ferry crossings.

Follow RNZ’s live coverage above for the most up-to-date information.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Follow the latest in RNZ’s live blog above

People have been evacuated in Manawatū and on the coast of the Tararua District due to rising river levels.

The entire Manawatū-Whanganui region is in a state of emergency with heavy rain, flooding as severe weather lashes the lower North Island.

Thousands of properties have had power cut off.

Fire and Emergency have had 185 call outs across the lower North Island – with roofs lifting, power lines down, and trees and windows being blown in.

Five districts – Manawatū, Rangitīkei, Tararua, Waipā and Ōtorohanga District – are in states of emergency.

On Sunday afternoon, all remaining flights in and out of Wellington for the day were cancelled, as were Cook Strait ferry crossings.

Follow RNZ’s live coverage above for the most up-to-date information.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

An Ōtorohanga mum of four waded through knee-deep water in the early hours of Saturday morning to raise the alarm of flooding with her neighbours.

The South Waikato town was put into a State of Emergency shortly before 1am on Saturday as torrential rain lashed out on the region.

About 80 people were evacuated across homes on Phillips Avenue, Rangiatea Road, Kio Kio Station Road, a marae, and a camping site, sheltering at Te Kotahitanga Marae or with friends.

Trish Osterman said the rain had eased on Friday night when she went to bed, and she didn’t expect that things would pick up again in the early hours of the morning.

She said she was woken about 3am by the sound of water gurgling.

When she went out and saw her street flooded, she decided to go door to door knocking on her neighbours’ homes to warn them, wading through water that was already knee deep, in her gumboots.

“I did have to take a light with me, because you couldn’t see through the water, it was pretty murky it was dark, really hard to wake people up, had to do a lot of banging on windows, obviously everyone was sleeping…but eventually they did wake up.”

Osterman’s eldest son Callum called Fire and Emergency for help, as she was alerting the neighbours, and the family of six were able to shelter at a friend’s house for the night.

Returning to her house on Saturday morning, Osterman said the water had risen to about 2 inches deep across her rooms, before slowly dropping throughout the day.

Water levels receded slowly throughout Saturday, but as of Saturday afternoon, large puddles remained surrounding some homes on Phillips Avenue, the local school was still surrounded by water, and many paddocks remained inundated.

The mayor said in his update this morning that the weather event in the Otorohanga district and wider region was significant, with about 150mm-300mm of rain recorded within the period of an hour.

The family’s backyard remained flooded on Saturday, and their garden where Osterman’s eight-year-old son planted pumpkins and watermelons has also been soaked in contaminated flood waters.

The weekend flood has devastated Otorohanga and its surrounds, claiming the life of a man who was trapped in a submerged car at Puketotara on State Highway 39, about 7 kilometres south of Pirongia.

RNZ had also spoken to an Otorohanga man who had to be evacuated by boat after finding himself in waist deep water in his bedroom.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

MIL OSI

The Government is urging people to put safety first, as it gets behind North Island communities facing another period of severe weather, less than one month after the tragic storms of last month and three years since Cyclone Gabrielle struck in 2023.

Severe weather warnings are in place in many parts of the North Island, and flooding has tragically already claimed one life last night in South Waikato. 

Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery, Mark Mitchell, says the Government is doing everything it can to support communities, many of whom are still recovering from last month’s storms.

“Emergency services and Government agencies are working together to support locally-led response efforts, and NZDF, Fire and Emergency, Police, St Johns, and Health NZ have assets pre-positioned in Tairawhiti” says Mr Mitchell. 

“We are getting in behind local Civil Defence as they face another gruelling response, and the Government is ready to surge in assistance to anywhere that needs it.

“What’s most important right now is that you keep yourself and your loved ones safe.  Take these warnings seriously and don’t take any chances.

“Never drive, walk, or swim through floodwaters. If waters rise around you, don’t wait for an alert – get to higher ground immediately.

“If you’re under a severe weather warning, avoid non-essential travel, as driving conditions will be hazardous.

“We are tragically all too aware of the risks that landslides pose. Stay alert for the warning signs and get out if you don’t feel safe.  

“A number of Emergency Mobile Alerts have been issued, but please stay informed through a range of channels – your local Civil Defence Group, MetService, NZTA and radio.”

For more information on what to do before, during and after a storm, visit Storms — Get Ready (NZ Civil Defence) — Emergency preparedness in New Zealand

For more information about landslide safety, visit Landslides — Get Ready (NZ Civil Defence) — Emergency preparedness in New Zealand

MIL OSI

MIL OSI

Hundreds of thousands of files have been identified by Tauranga City Council that it thinks could be relevant to a review of what it knew and how fast it acted before the deadly landslip at Mount Maunganui that left six holiday-makers dead.

The council on Thursday named retired High Court judge Paul Davison KC to help the external review.

The review, while separate to a government inquiry also confirmed the same day, would aim to work alongside it and try to cut any duplication.

Davison has been tasked with delivering his findings by the end of June, a target both he and Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale were confident of reaching.

“It really depends on once he gets into his work and understands the scale,” Drysdale said.

“It is quite a narrow scope, but with the ability for him to go wider if he feels it’s relevant, so we’ll trust his judgement on that.”

But the mayor told RNZ it was a big job ahead.

“The total documents that we’re looking at the moment is in the hundreds of thousands,” he said.

It was based on search terms staff had used to scour through documents.

“So, just literally searching every file we have, every e-mail, every conversation that’s recorded,” Drysdale said.

The mayor said all of these now had to be waded through to see if they were relevant to Davison’s review.

Drysdale said Davison was “the right man for the job” given his extensive experience, and what he said was a reputation for rigorous analysis.

Read RNZ National Crime Correspondent Sam Sherwood’s earlier report of who knew what, and when.

The mayor was asked if he had considered any future actions if Davison’s report found any fault with the council.

“Look, at the end of the day we lost six lives and it’s important that we understand what happened, whether that’s good, bad or indifferent,” Drysdale said.

“I’m sure that there’s going to be some things that are found that we could have done better and it’s important that we know that so we can put those processes in place going forward to enable that we don’t go through a similar situation.”

Fire and Emergency (FENZ) previously confirmed it got a 111 call at 5.48am before the tragedy, from a person reporting a slip near the holiday park.

It said at the time it contacted Tauranga City Council at 5.51am, given it owned the camping ground.

The council confirmed it received a call from FENZ.

Davison told RNZ he would need unrestricted access to “any” information the council held.

“If I didn’t have unrestricted information or access to it, then clearly I wouldn’t be able to undertake an effective review,” he said.

The deadline for the review was able to be extended with agreement from the mayor.

“But … we need this in a timely manner, because we don’t want to wait,” he said.

“We’re hopeful we can get the report as quickly as possible.”

Davison said he would work to complete the report as soon as he possibly could.

Who is Paul Davison?

• Admitted as a barrister and solicitor in 1975
• Made a High Court judge in 2015 and retired in 2023 before continuing work in law as a mediator, arbitrator and consulting
• Has sat as a member of a Divisional Court of Appeal
• Has acted as counsel in several major commissions of inquiry, notably the Royal Commission into the Air New Zealand Erebus disaster
• In 2025, undertook a government-appointed role of independent arbiter to determine financial redress for Lake Alice survivors
• Appointed Kim Dotcom’s lawyer soon after his arrest
• Lead defence lawyer in 2009 for Mangere MP Taito Phillip Field
• Appeared as Crown counsel in the case against David Tamihere.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

One person has escaped a house fire in North Auckland this afternoon.

Fire and Emergency (FENZ) crews are extinguishing a fire at a two-storey house on Balmain Road in Chatswood.

A FENZ spokesperson said they were called to the scene at about half past 12, and the house was well involved on arrival.

One person who was inside the house was able to get out and wasn’t injured.

FENZ said the fire isn’t being treated as suspicious, but a fire investigator is on site.

Locals have shared photos of billowing black smoke coming from the area on Thursday afternoon.

A section of Balmain Road has been cordoned off.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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A blaze at a Waikato landfill may have have been caused by wrongly disposed lithium batteries.

The fire broke out at the Tirohia Landfill, near Paeroa, on Wednesday morning.

Fire and Emergency sent firefighters from several stations.

The fire was now under control and nobody was hurt, the tip’s owners WM New Zealand said.

“Initial reports suggest the fire started when a compactor drove over an item that ignited,” it said.

“It is too early to confirm the cause, but incidents like this are often linked to lithium batteries that have been disposed of incorrectly.”

An investigation was underway, the company said.

WM said there was no risk to workers or the public from the fire.

“Battery fires are becoming more common across the waste sector. When batteries are crushed or damaged, they can ignite and create safety risk.”

The company was urging people to properly get rid of batteries and not throw them out in household rubbish or recycling bins.

Fire and Emergency have been approached for comment.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand