Storm leaves thousands without power in New Zealand, floods Wellington

More than 3,000 homes and businesses were still without electricity across central New Zealand after a low-pressure system lashed the country with flooding and landslides, with Wellington among the hardest-hit areas. Powerco recorded the outages on Saturday, while Wellington Airport’s departures board showed multiple cancellations and delays as the storm continued to disrupt travel.

In Wellington, rain was heavy at times before easing later in the day, with southerly winds reaching about 54km/h. The weather also forced the cancellation of 200 flights in and out of Wellington on Friday, cutting one of the country’s main transport links at the same time roads were being closed or damaged.

Authorities warned of debris on roads, surface flooding and an ongoing landslide threat, especially in and around Wellington and Lower Hutt. Lower Hutt officials reported flooded roads and two landslides, while evacuations spread across nearby suburbs as the rain pushed through the lower North Island. Twenty-five homes in Stokes Valley and one in Porirua were evacuated on Saturday morning, and later the total rose to 26 homes across the two areas.

Lower Hutt Mayor Ken Laban urged people to check on vulnerable neighbours as welfare teams worked to find temporary housing for evacuees. Some residents were placed with family or friends, while council teams took on the remainder. Flooded streets and unstable slopes made parts of the region difficult to access.

The severe weather outlook on Saturday showed a low-pressure system slowly moving northeast of the North Island, with rain and strong southeasterly winds over northern and central New Zealand expected to gradually ease, and only minimal severe-weather risk from Sunday onward.

MetService’s Wellington Central observations for the previous day showed a peak wind gust of 100km/h and 40.8mm of rain. That followed February winds in Wellington, the strongest in more than a decade, with gusts of 193km/h at Mount Kaukau and 128km/h at Wellington Airport. In January, heavy rain triggered a landslide that killed six people at a campground on the North Island.