-
Related
It was another bleak day across the south although severe weather conditions in Southland and parts of Otago eased and low level snow melted.
PowerNet technicians have been working up to 16-hour days restoring electricity in awful conditions to homes scattered across Southland.
"They've been pretty horrendous, we've had heavy snow and the wind, the snow sitting on the wire bringing the wire down," says Otago Power Services spokesperson Graeme Dawe.
Spokesman Roy Duffin says they managed to get about half the homes cut off in Saturday's storm back on by the end of the day. But he says there are still about 150 homes without power.
Duffin says the company hopes power will be restored to the homes by the end of Sunday but big snow drifts are making it difficult for linesmen.
Stock have come through the cold blast well but for farmers lots of rain, as well as the snow thaw, means sodden pastures and the prospect of a muddy winter.
"There's been 38 mils of rain...over the last two days, and there's a big melt going on up in the hills, so I'd say there's going to be a lot of water to get to the river," says West Otago farmer Graeme Edgar.
The thaw follows heavy snow and gales of up to 110 kilometres an hour overnight Friday which gave Southland and Central Otago a hammering. Around 10 centimetres of snow fell in some Dunedin hill suburbs, with snow all the way to sea level - one of its heaviest snowfalls in years.
The snow resulted in chaos on the road and many drivers abandoned their cars after the roads became too slippery. On Saturday morning a car crashed into a house in St Clair, one of dozens of vehicle crashes in the area. The driver was taken to Dunedin hospital with minor injuries.
One lucky motorist, Dunedin resident Ann Swolss, suffered only minor injuries after her car took a six-metre plunge down a bank, lodging itself between the bank and a house.
"[I] just tried to reverse out and because of the snow just started sliding and couldn't stop the car, just kept on going," she says.
Eleven major roads in Southland and Central Otago were affected by closures and Air New Zealand cancelled all four of its flights into and out of Queenstown on Saturday, affecting about 500 people.
Queenstown supermarkets too were also under pressure in the weekend as households stocked up on essential supplies such as bread and milk.
"Everything was sold out yesterday just after lunch. Today probably around the same time," said shopkeeper Tara Henderson.
Heavy snow and wind at the Remarkables forced the skifield to close on Saturday on what was meant to be the first official day of the season but all the major skifields in the South Island opened on Sunday following a good dumping of heavy snow.
Chains are required for both two and four-wheel-drive vehicles.
The weather should start clearing in the North Island from Monday, but the big chill is not over for Dunedin and coastal Otago with more snow is expected on Sunday night.
Forecaster Ian Miller says Monday's snow showers will largely clear by nightfall but icy conditions are still likely on some roads.
Light snow could fall further north by Monday evening around
Wellington and Wairarapa, and in the central North Island and
Gisborne.
