Pamela Moresby
NO WARNING!
Well, 2 days ago we had a storm in Auckland. To be honest there was no warning. The civil defence said we had warning given on the internet. The internet and computer is linked to electricity, when power is cut there is no internet! What were they thinking? And not everyone is connected to the internet.
If you don’t have a landline connected to copper wires for your phone, you cant use a landline. If you have a cell phone, make sure you can use if in an emergency and keep that up. You never know and you don’t always get warned in advance.
The gale force winds was strong and the sounds were very high pitched shrills.
It was about 9 O’clock in the evening and we were watching a movie when the light flicked once and then everything went black. I opened the window curtains to look for other lights. There were some down the road. Five minutes later, a very loud explosion and then those lights went out as well.
Later we found out that at Manukau heads the winds were at 210 miles an hour. Thousands of homes were cut off and had no electric power. Traffic lights were not working. The Auckland airport had debris cleared and was fully functional the next day.
So I purchased the last gas cooker at the Warehouse the next day.
We went for a drive the next day. As the temperature had gone down from 23 degrees celsius to 14 degrees celsius. We went to Ngaruawahia. That is another story.
When we arrived home, the power came on at around 5 PM.
My gym is open but the indoor pools are closed due to a roof top blowing off and damage to the pools. They were going to close the indoor pools for 2 weeks for an upgrade anyway.
Two days later, still many homes in West Auckland have not got electric power. Lets just say, West Auckland.
I walked down the road yesterday on my daily walk and this is what I saw.
House at the front
This family work very hard on their garden. Fortunately this tree did not hit any cars or anything else but the hedge.
Another tree down
A view of the same house.
Tree after tree
This fence wasn’t damaged
As you can see the same as above.
Today, most of the pathways have been cleared and there is nice free fire wood for some people.
Far in the distance.
There was some damage.
Fortunately we all had running water which is something.!
It can not be predicted where there could be damage in a storm. I’m glad there are no injuries.
Thanks so much Elenka and Ellie. Sad about the tree, I believe later that the Auckland city council will replace it.
What a beautiful tree to lose. I’m glad it didn’t fall on anyone or cause property damage.
Thanks Barbara, there are teams cleaning up the mess but this one today remained as is