By RNZ
New Zealanders are beginning to take to the road as the long Easter weekend kicks off.
Most motorways leading out of Auckland and to the Auckland Airport are congested as motorists begin their holidays.
Auckland Transport is urging drivers to be safe and plan ahead, with strong winds and rain creating hazards on the roads.
Auckland commuters are also being affected, with all of Thursday’s ferry services cancelled and congestion in both directions through Ellerslie.
In Waikato, strong winds caused by ex-cyclone Tam have toppled trees on some roads, including State Highway 29 in Te Poi.
Travellers are reporting high winds creating scary driving conditions, and several crashes on SH29 over the Kaimai Range.
On a local social media page dedicated to Bay of Plenty traffic information, Brett Hogue said he saw two caravans on their sides.
Amanda Swanepoel had also travelled over the Kaimai Range and said her whole car was shaking from the wind.
A key bridge on State Highway 1 across the Waihou River was blocked by floodwaters, and inundation had forced a stretch of State Highway 11 running along Paihia’s coast to close.
Waipa Networks in Waikato said it was experiencing multiple outages across the network caused by the wind and severe weather.
Conditions were making it much harder for repair teams to complete their work and some outages may take longer than usual to repair, the company said.
The outages affect Airport Road, Duncan Rd, Hautapu Rd, Peake Rd, Pencarrow Rd, and parts of State Highway 1 and 3.
Hamilton Airport has not been affected.
In the City of Sails, Auckland Transport said local roads were clear. Motorways out of the city were maintaining a steady flow of traffic as Aucklanders try to beat the rush hour traffic for an early start to the weekend.
State Highway 20A was particularly busy on the way to Auckland Airport and a notice on the airport’s website warned it was running out of carparks.
The church was divided over the use of millions of dollars in donations.