Icy blanket swathes Canterbury

Only the rare intrepid driver ventured on to icy roads in Christchurch yesterday after up to 15cm of snow fell. Picture / John Mccombe

Christchurch was paralysed yesterday as a fierce snowstorm hit the South Island, cutting electricity and closing the city's airport, universities, schools and businesses.

Parts of Christchurch received between 5cm and 15cm of snow early in the day. But the sun broke through between rain and sleet showers in the afternoon.

The ferocity of the storm caught residents by surprise after a mild winter largely free of severe weather. The temperature hovered just above freezing throughout the day.

Northern and central Canterbury were hit hard and one property in the Mackenzie Basin, near Fairlie, recorded 25cm of snow.

Porters Pass in the central South Island got 15cm.

MetService forecaster Hayward Osborn described the storm as a one-in-10-year event.

"We usually see it in the winter months, but in spring we still do get some quite cold wintry outbreaks.

"It was more of a feature for the coast than inland."

More snow was expected overnight.

Thousands of Canterbury properties were without electricity for periods yesterday after snow brought down power lines.

Emergency crews from lines company Orion worked without a break to try to restore power.

Operations manager Stuart Kilduff said between 50 and 100 properties would be without power overnight because the crews could not work in the dark.

Christchurch Airport was forced to ground dozens of flights between 9.30am and 1pm because of difficulties "de-icing" planes in time.

This led to a backlog of hundreds of passengers, who waited for later flights or had to rebook flights today.

Airport spokeswoman Nicole Were said it was fortunate that few international flights were scheduled yesterday morning. One, from Singapore, had managed to land.

The Christchurch City Council kept only emergency services going yesterday. Council offices and libraries were closed and rubbish collections cancelled.

Roads leading to the city's Port Hills were shut for much of the day, leaving some residents unable to go to work or return to their homes.

Canterbury and Lincoln Universities were closed and most of the city's schools were deserted except for children building snowmen on the fields.

Motorists were urged to stay off the roads unless they had to travel.

Thousands of residents could not make it to work.

Justin Westhuyzen, who recently moved from Brisbane, was unable to get to his new job at Christchurch Hospital because the road down from his Port Hills home was closed for most of the day and buses were not operating.

"I knew that it could get cold but I didn't expect snow, that's for sure."

Microbiologist John Aitken had to walk for an hour to get to his job in central Christchurch because the road from his home was closed.

"Of course I had the indignity of being pelted by snowballs on the way home. There's no reward for the pedestrian.

"The only people I saw coming down [the hill] were people playing in the snow," Mr Aitken said.

The Stanion family missed out on the snow at their home in the outer suburb of Sumner, so ventured into the city to play.

Ray Stanion said his two children, Kate, 7, and Ryan, 5, had seen snow only a couple of times in their lives so were thrilled to have the day off to enjoy it.