Extensive storm damage across Taupō District

Name: Cyclone Gabrielle: Tree falls on Taupō building
Uploaded: 2023-02-14T08:13:39+13:00
Description: The $7.7 million Waiora House Community Services Hub in Taupō was expected to be complete in April. Video / Dan Hutchinson

By Dan Hutchinson & Milly Fullick

Taupo & Turangi Herald·

13 Feb, 2023 07:24 PM4 mins to read

The $7.7 million Waiora House Community Services Hub in Taupō was expected to be complete in April. Video / Dan Hutchinson

More than 2300 properties in in the Taupō District are without power, many schools are closed today and numerous trees have toppled, including one that has fallen on the soon-to-be-completed $7.7 million Waiora House.

Civil Defence Taupō is advising people not to travel unless it is absolutely necessary.

Many local roads are impassable, including Wairakei Drive, Huka Falls Road, Aratiatia Rd and several state highways are closed - SH1 Desert Rd, SH5 Napier- Taupō, SH32 Whakamaru to Kuratau Junction, SH30 Whakamaru to Kinleith.

Line Company Unison is reporting over 2300 properties without power in the north and east of the district, with outages across Kinloch, Marotiri, Whangamata Rd, Motuoapa, Motutere, Tauranga- Taupō, Rangipo and Tūrangi.

Taupō District Council put in place an urgent conserve water notice at about 7am on February 14. They asked residents in Taupō, Tūrangi and the surrounding areas to avoid using showers, washing machines and dishwashers until the notice is lifted.

Residents in parts of Kinloch, however, reported that they had no water supply on Tuesday morning. Taupō District Council said it was working to send a generator to power the water supply intake and restore services to homes.

All school buses from Tūrangi are cancelled today as the road conditions are too dangerous.

“While we expect the winds to ease as the day progresses, things are not safe out there. We strongly encourage people to stay home today - work from home if you can. Many roads are unsafe and there is wind-blown debris in many places,” Civil Defence said.

Unison's outage map shows swathes of the Central North Island without power at 7am on February 14. /Unison

Taupō District Council staff and contractors are assessing the damage. All council venues are closed while the damage is assessed.

Taupō residents with Tuesday rubbish collections were asked not to put recycling out, although bin bags could still be put out for collection.

Power outages were reported by residents across large parts the district, with Unison reporting around 2,000 customers still without power as of 9.30am on Tuesday, including properties within Taupō CBD, Acacia Bay, Kinloch, Hatepe and Wairakei.

The estimated restoration time for Kinloch, Marotiri and Whangamata Road was estimated at midday on Tuesday, with Tūrangi and Waihaha’s issues expected to be resolved at 4pm, and the remaining areas by 8pm.

A spokesperson for The Lines Company said the earlier published estimates of one week to fix issues were incorrect, and caused by a technical glitch in the third-party software used to manage outage information.

On February 13, Mobile network provider 2degrees advised that customers in Taupō CBD, Tūrangi, Kinloch, Wairakei and Tokoroa South were likely to see degraded mobile reception. As of Tuesday morning, the network was still under repair.

Vodafone was also reporting mobile network outages on February 14, largely in southern Lake Taupō communities including Omori and Pukawa, Motuoapa and Tauranga-Taupō.

In Tūrangi, the fire brigade advised that there were large trees blocking roads in several parts of the town, including Te Rangitautahanga Road, Rangiamohia Road and Puataata Road.

A Taupō District Council spokesperson said that there had been no reports of major damage at council-run sites, but the roof of Acacia Bay’s Community Hall has been damaged by a fallen tree.

The $7.7 million Waiora House Community Services Hub in Taupō, due to be complete in April has had a huge tree clip the edge of the roof and damage an outbuilding. Photo / Dan Hutchinson

The fallen tree at Waiora House has damaged an outbuilding and caused minor roof damage to the main building.

There was reported damage to a fence at the Taupō Dog Pound, but all animals and staff are safe and accounted for.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand attended numerous callouts overnight on February 13 and into the morning of February 14, but none were due to roof damage.

Locals were advised that the fire brigade was unable to deal with large tree incidents, and were asked to report issues to Taupō District Council instead.