As wind tears up Taranaki, recovery underway

                                                    INFONEWS.CO.NZ COVERAGE

The clean up will begin Tuesday for Taranaki after a wild storm ripped threw the region taking power from over 25,000 homes.

New Plymouth Airport reopened Monday and Powerco had just 6000 homes to restore power to. 

Metservice has advised Taranaki Civil Defense that the worst of the cold and wind is over for the week.

A garage that was blown apart in a Vogeltown subdivision needed to be pinned down with a digger arm to prevent more parts from flying off.

A tree fell on St Chad's Anglican Church in Westown causing a large crack in the ceiling and damage to the roof and guttering.

Power was out across much of New Plymouth, Opunake, Inglewood, Omata, Oakura, Okato and Kaponga, roofs were ripped off, and trees toppled throughout the province.

Collapsed chimneys, detached street lights, and flying objects were all part of the windy Sunday.

Gusting up to 130kmh, the winds also brought down a massive tree on top of the Oakura Volunteer Fire Brigade's fire engine, nearly destroying it.

Powerco operations manager Phil Marsh said a small army had battled the elements from about 4pm to get power back on to about 15,000 Taranaki customers Monday afternoon. 

"It is likely around 8000 homes will be without power Monday night, into Tuesday. With the current conditions it is difficult to assess the full extent of the damage but it is likely some customers will be without power for another two to three days," he said.

Powerco has called in field staff from outside the region to assist in the clean-up which will be taking place Tuesday.

With safety a great concern, Mr Marsh urged parents to keep their children and pets well away from any fallen power lines.

HIGHWAY CLOSED - stuff.co.nz

As has now become usual during such events, the high winds also tore the roof off Waiwhakaiho's Self Storage Taranaki.

It is the fourth time the roof has ripped off the storage sheds. The first time was in January 2011, then again just 12 weeks later. The third and most recent time was in March 2012.

There was so much iron flying about State Highway 3 between Katere Rd and Egmont Rd, it was closed temporarily by police until Monday morning when it was assessed to reopen.

Fallen trees in the same area also contributed to the road closure, while others near Waitara caused traffic delays.

PLANE FLIPS IN HIGH WINDS - stuff.co.nz

New Plymouth airport duty controller Graeme Snell said the airport had suffered some damage with winds reaching 135 kilometres an hour, but the runways was clear and planes were taking off and landing fine on Monday.

But a plane that was tied down outside New Plymouth Aero Club on Sunday night was flipped upside down when gusts of wind up to 59 knots got under its wings.

WARNINGS AND EVACUATIONS - infonews.co.nz

New Plymouth fire senior station officer Ian Drewery said "There are lots of power lines coming down. Lots of trees coming down, tiles coming off roofs. I'm advising a lot of people to shift to other parts of the house if they can, but if they still need our help they have to call 111 and join the queue"

and it was all screams and alarms when Event Cinemas, New Plymouth evacuated over 100 people after the high winds caused continual power surges in its projection room.