Editorial: Wild wind big blow for everyone

Wild weather has been hitting Hawke's Bay hard

The wind - it is amazing how disruptive, and at times damaging, something that one can't see can be.

Everyone is talking about the high winds we have been experiencing in the Bay, with Saturday a day many will remember for a while.

For most of us, it was extremely irritating and hampered what we could do for the day. I spent four hours gardening and found the process even more exhausting than normal.

Then there were the power cuts. When I phoned the Unison service number, the automated voice read out a list of about 20 areas in Hawke's Bay with an estimated time for the power to be restored. Good work by Unison in keeping the community informed but it was also an indication of the destructive force of wind.

For some, it damaged their properties, while for others it was life threatening.

Weekend gusts toppled trees, leaving a woman in hospital. Chainsaws were needed north of Lake Tutira in Northern Hawke's Bay on Saturday to clear the road so an ambulance could get to the woman injured by a falling tree. The woman, who received head and face injuries, was recovering in Hawke's Bay Hospital yesterday.

In another incident, Bill Hubbard and his wife Audrey, of Maraenui, had a major scare when Saturday's gales snapped a huge tree off at the base and sent it crashing across their house.

The bad news is that the wind is set to continue today.

Let's hope it does not last too long. Summer has tempted us a few times in the past month, only to seem a season away the next day.

Hopefully, come December, the winds of November will be a distant memory.