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Caroline Bay in Timaru - Source: ONE News -
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More waves from the tsunami that sent warnings throughout the
Pacific have hit the New Zealand coast.
The Chatham Islands was the first place in New Zealand to
experience a surge, with a 0.2 metre wave arriving just before
7.35am. Since then it has been measured at one metre with reports
of a wave height of 1.5 metres at Pitt Island.
Waves have been recorded at 0.3 metres at East Cape, Napier, Castlepoint, Tauranga and North Cape and 0.4 metres in Gisborne.
Larger waves may follow over a period of several hours.
Parts of Northland have experienced fluctuations in sea level and tidal surges have been reported in some areas.
In Tutukaka the first of the surges to hit the coast was about a metre high and turned the normally placid harbour into a "washing machine".
"The wave was approximately one metre. It sucks out and comes in. It takes a couple of minutes. They are very long waves," Jeroen Jongejans, who runs Dive Tutukaka, told NZPA from his boat near the harbour entrance.
He said the water was discoloured indicating the energy level of the wave was very deep and had picked up debris from the harbour floor.
The Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Group says it appears events in Northland have unfolded as predicted.
Transport services across the country were affected by the warnings .
Tsunami sightseeing
Coastlines around the country were closed to the public but that
did not stop people ignoring warnings to stay away on Sunday
morning.
There were reports in Canterbury, Northland, Auckland and Hastings of people going to beaches for recreational purposes, or to try and watch the tsunami waves.
City Council rangers in Canterbury were clearing people away from the beaches and say it is frustrating that warnings are being ignored.
Tsunami wave will grow
The death toll in the 8.8 magnitude quake that rocked Chile on
Saturday has
risen to at least 300 people .
After the quake, a tsunami warning was issued and a wave measuring 2.34 metres was measured in Talcahuano, Chile. Later in the morning a wave of 0.35 metres was measured at Easter Island.
GNS scientist Ken Gledhill says it is difficult to predict how big tsunami waves could grow as there are very few recorders between New Zealand and South America.
"The path it takes to us is independent so we don't really have a good handle on that ... because we are not in the main beam of the tsunami, that's heading towards to Japan, the side beam we're in will probably grow in the next few hours."
Sea level changes at the Chatham Islands
Chatham Islands residents have seen changes in water level, but no big wave.
One resident says sea levels have changed dramatically.
"The water is starting to disappear from round the bay, all the rocks are uncovered, the water is definitely moving out. Now the rocks are covered up again. There's no big wall of water yet. It looks very unusual, very unusual," Chris told NZPA. She did not want to give her surname.
"It's kind of high tide here at the moment but sort of in no time the rocks became uncovered but they're covered up again. It's (happening) very slowly."
She says people were well prepared.
