Today's Morning Rush is brought to you by Sophie Ryan.
Good morning and welcome to today's edition of Morning Rush. Everything you need to know, including the latest, breaking news, sport, entertainment, traffic, travel and weather information. Share your news tips and photos at #MorningRushNZ or morningrush@nzme.co.nz
9.00am: That's all for today folks. Thanks for joining me this morning. Remember to stay away from beaches of the east coast and out of the water until Civil Defence lifts the tsunami warnings. Have a great weekend, the Morning Rush blog will be back up and running at 6am on Monday.
8.55am: Latest news coming through is that independent commissioners have granted a resource consent, subject to conditions, for the New Zealand International Convention Centre. We will have more coming through as soon as possible.
8.50am: Police have found a stash of ammunition in a central Auckland property. Officers from the city's central police and the armed offenders squad served a search warrant on a Karaka St property just before 6am today. A police spokeswoman said the operation was "in relation to firearms". "Five people from the address are speaking with police and a search is underway at the property. A quantity of ammunition has been found so far.".
8.45am: Civil Defence is still warning of strong currents around Auckland today. Don't get in the water today.
The tsunami marine and beach threat is still in place. Please continue to follow civil defence advice http://t.co/o3xeNJonFo
— National Emergency Management Agency (@NZcivildefence) September 17, 2015
8.40am: A police operation is underway on a central Auckland street this morning. Police confirmed there is a planned operation involving the Armed Offenders Squad on Karaka St. Officers are still at the scene.
8.35am: Here's Toby Manhire's letter to new Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnball. It's brillaint, have a read.
In short, Malco, today you're the one who would clone Key. You've already got a lot in common. Mostly humble, non-nuclear-family upbringings. Merchant banks. Millions in the bank. And a philosophical affinity: comparatively socially progressive, pro-business, and situated at the centrist ends of your parties. What then can you learn from your cross-ditch human template?
Google data map shows the popularity of the All Blacks.
They are the defending world champions and the number one team in the world and now a map shows just how popular the All Blacks are across the globe. Google data revealed to
shows the All Blacks have been searched for more times than any other team in the majority of countries the world over during the past month.
8.25am: Chatham Islands mayor Alfred Preece said tidal surges there were about 50 centimetres. "We had no significant wave heights here at all - a little bit of tidal surge between 2am and 5 this morning, but nothing significant." Locals were now waiting for the tsunami alert to be wound down. Mr Preece said such alerts were taken seriously.
8.20am:
Tsunami gauge network shows the first waves began arriving about 8 hours ago. Photo / GeoNet
If you're just joining me this morning, here's a recap of the tsunami situation following yesterday's violent earthquake in Chile. Civil Defence said the first tsunami wave following the earthquake in Chile reached the Chatham Islands at 11.50pm last night. Minor fluctuations in sea-level have been recorded in North Cape, Great Barrier Island, Tauranga, East Cape, Gisborne, Napier, Castlepoint, Wellington, Kaikoura, Christchurch. These have been estimated to be no more than 30 cm. Civil Defence warns that dangerous coastal conditions can exist for 24 hours after the first wave, so stay away from the beach and water all day today.
8.15am: Here's the rain I said earlier was coming for most parts of the country today. Heaviest falls will be around Northland, Auckland, Coromandel and Bay of Plenty.
8.10am: This gif, or animated image, of Donald Trump is weirdly hypnotic.
8.05am:
Ali Williams: Using Google translate is a terrible idea. Photo / Getty Images
Ali WIlliams has addressed that controversial column that bad-mouthed the English rugby team. "It hasn't been a great week. I took my first foray into being a columnist in a foreign language and it was a disaster."
7.55am: One of the country's top state schools is ditching the highly renowned Cambridge exams to "fully embrace" the controversial New Zealand NCEA qualification. Westlake Boys High School, on Auckland's North Shore, says it believes NCEA is an "excellent system" which now has international recognition, meaning an alternative programme is no longer needed. Read the full story here.
7.50am: Five fire crews and an ambulance attended a suspected chemical spill Auckland International Airport last night. But the "clear liquid" substance was soon identified as fish juice, which was leaking from a chilly bin.
7.46am: Philip Duncan of WeatherWatch last night criticised the lack of details from New Zealand's government agencies around the tsunami waves arriving after the earthquake in Chile. At 1am he issued a statement saying New Zealand has a lack of buoys off the east coast to assist in reporting, despite what was learnt after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsuami. He also criticised the lack of information provided at that stage about the height of waves reaching our shores.
7.41am:
Brothers Ruban Nielson and Kody Nielson won the 2015 Apra Silver Scroll Award last night for the Unknown Mortal Orchestra song Multi-Love. It's a fantastic song, I had hoped it would win. Watch the video below if you aren't familiar with it.
There is an object partially blocking the Sthn Mwy right lane City-Bnd on the Newmarket Viaduct. Please pass with extra care ^TP
— Waka Kotahi NZTA Auckland & Northland (@WakaKotahiAkNth) September 17, 2015
7.34am: It's currently taking 30 minutes to reach the city from Greville Rd on the Northern Motorway.
Citybound on Nthn Mwy is a bit heavy at present, but flowing slow & steady. Taking about 30 mins from Greville, 20 from Tristram ^TP
— Waka Kotahi NZTA Auckland & Northland (@WakaKotahiAkNth) September 17, 2015
7.30am: It's a reasonable run on the Southern Motorway this morning.
The Sthn Mwy Citybound is mostly moving quite well. Heavy at Papakura, moderate btwn Highbrooke & Ellerslie, 30 mins from Manukau ^TP
— Waka Kotahi NZTA Auckland & Northland (@WakaKotahiAkNth) September 17, 2015
7.26am:
Check out this cute pic of a seal on a kayak. Henry Han went kayak-fishing off Waikawau Bay, Coromandel. Friend Martin Plom sent in the pic. He said "He saw the seal out on the water when he was fishing, so paddled over to it and much to his surprise it swam over and jumped on board. It sat there for about 5 minutes."
A seal relaxing on a kayak off Waikawau Bay, Coromandel. Photo / Henry Han
7.23am: It's slow on the North-Western Motorway this morning. Be patient and take it easy on the wet roads.
#AKLTraffic Citybound is heavy on the Nth Wstn Mwy around Royal and Lincoln but moving slow & steady in the wet this morning. ^TP
— Waka Kotahi NZTA Auckland & Northland (@WakaKotahiAkNth) September 17, 2015
7.14am: The New Zealand dollar rallied by more than one US cent after the US Federal Reserve this morning opted to leave its official rate unchanged within a zero to 0.25 per cent range. Read more here.
7.11am: Prince Harry was officially welcomed everyone to the Rugby World Cup 2015.
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) September 17, 2015
7.07am: Civil Defence says the first tsunami wave following the earthquake in Chile reached the Chatham Islands at 11.50pm last night. Minor fluctuations in sea-level have been recorded in North Cape, Great Barrier Island, Tauranga, East Cape, Gisborne, Napier, Castlepoint, Wellington, Kaikoura, Christchurch. These have been estimated to be no more than 30 cm. Civil Defence warns that dangerous coastal conditions can exist for 24 hours after the first wave, so stay away from the beach and water all day today.
7.03am: Current travel times in Wellington from NZTA:
Thousands of residents of a small city in northern Chile slept outside after a powerful earthquake destroyed their homes, forced more than 1 million to evacuate and killed at least 10 people in the quake-prone South American nation.
6.55am: Temperatures are warm in many places this morning, but the warmest place to be is Gisborne where it is 15C this morning. The coldest place is Invercargill, where it is 5.4C.
6.50am: It's going to be a wet day across most parts of the country today, with hevay falls possible in Auckland, Northland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Buller and Westland. Hail is possible in Southland and Otago.
6.45am: Mayor of the Chatham Islands Alfred Preece confirmed three families there evacuated themselves and move to higher ground overnight. "It's been very insignificant at this stage and we're pretty happy about that, obviously," he told Radio NZ of the higher waves.
We had some tidal surges from about two to five this morning, nothing significant, so we've just waiting for a wind-down and hopefully everything will be back to normal about nine or ten. Everyone's been pretty well prepared here.
6.40am:
This image shows the tsunami gauge network picking up an increase in waves in the last six hours.
6.35am: There has been a crash on the North-Western Motorway west-bound. It won't affect travel into the city.
A #breakdown is blocking the left lane westbound on the Nth Westn Mwy Causeway. Please pass with care. ^TP
— Waka Kotahi NZTA Auckland & Northland (@WakaKotahiAkNth) September 17, 2015
6.30am: Director of Civil Defence and emergency management Sarah Stuart-Black said she was encouraged to see people heed the tsunami warnings and keep away from the ocean. "We're thrilled about that, that people have taken it seriously," she told Radio NZ. She said there were no reports of damage to New Zealand's coastline at this stage. Some low-lying houses in the Chatham Island were evacuated yesterday as a precaution.
6.27am: New Zealand's tsunami panel of experts meets at 9am and Civil Defence is expected to issue an update after that.
6.23am: The Chatham Islands have experienced the most significant activity, with wave heights reaching around 0.5m.
6.20am: Civil Defence says minor wave fluctuations have been observed at North Cape, Tauranga, Great Barrier Island, East Cape, Gisborne, Napier, Castlepoint, Wellington, Kaikoura and Christchurch.
6.17am: WeatherWatch.co.nz has been following the tsunami waves closely and said: "Waves are pretty small generally - but the currents generated may be significantly dangerous underwater and on our beaches."
6.14am: The currents associated with the effect of the tsunami makes the sea dangerous today, people are warned to stay away from the beach and out of the water.
6.10am: The tsunami warning for eastern coast of New Zealand and Chatham Islands issued by Civil Defence yesterday remains in place this morning.
6.07am: The official GeoNet Tsunami Gauge Chart showed waves reached Great Barrier Island around 1.30am. WeatherWatch.co.nz said the waves were under a metre high, but had signs of being very choppy and with strong currents.
6.03am: We are following the Civil Defence alerts around the tsunami from the Chile earthquake that struck yesterday.
6.00am: Good morning everyone, thanks for joining me on this wet Friday morning in Auckland.
