High winds in Auckland

'Massive amounts of debris' - Aucklanders flee wild winds

Some Aucklanders fled their homes last night as winds equivalent to a cyclone toppled trees and flung debris through the air.

RNZ,

11 April, 2018

The city was pummelled last night by a vicious storm with winds gusting up to 150km/h.

In Auckland, Mangere had gusts of more than 100km/h for three consecutive hours between 8pm and 11pm, which Niwa said was a magnitude typical of a category 1 cyclone intensity.

MetService said one gust was observed at 213km/h.

MetService

✔@MetService

Severe gales hit Auckland, widespread gusts of 120km/h + 1 observation of 213km/h. To be prepared check warnings http://bit.ly/SWWarnings  (issued Mon am) and Severe Weather Outlook http://bit.ly/SWOutlook  (issued Fri) + social media. The importance of being prepared! ^TA

7:56 AM - Apr 11, 2018

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Trees were toppled across the city and more than 100,000 homes lost power.

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In Glen Eden, a trampoline flew from a backyard to eventually land on a fence across the road.

Nancy Holland and her husband fled their Titirangi home, scared that surrounding kauri trees would fall on them.

They stepped out into a wild night.

"Lots of lightning far off in the distance. Debris, I could hear it on the roof just falling, things just falling, so we just went 'oh, we'll leave'.

"Yeah, a huge amount of debris and power lines down near where we are and massive amounts of debris all across the road."

A west Auckland woman whose neighbour's trampoline ended up in front of her house said the winds last night were terrifying.

Sereima Vakasoqo says after the power at her home went out at 9pm, she and her husband saw a large round object rolling around the front gate.

After investigating further they realised it was a trampoline from her neighbour's backyard.

"They looked at the trampoline rolling around their house, and after a while when another strong with came it just blew out of their gate, came across the road.

"All the cars were waiting, just, it was so terrifying to hear that storm."

Nathan Palairet had a hair-raising ride across the harbour bridge on his motorbike.

"You're riding along at about 30km an hour, with your hazards on, in the slow lane, getting blown from one side to the other, crossing over the line.

"It was terrifying. The cars were going about 50km an hour and I was like 'nah, I'm going slower than that, I can't, I don't feel safe'."

Auckland Airport suspended flights last night as debris was blown across the runway.

This passenger was bound for Auckland but her plane had to turn back to Napier.

"I was horrified, it was scary," she said.

"The man next door to me was very calm ... helped keep me calm so that was good, because I stopped breathing."

Auckland Airport said its main runway had been reopened this morning.

Livestorm chaos: Some Aucklanders could be without power for days -

More than 100,000 people were without power in Auckland overnight as 140km/h winds tore through the city, bringing down several large trees.