Quake: Drivers urged to stay off roads

Photo / Keith Hitchings

Canterbury people are being urged not to drive unless absolutely necessary as officials try to gauge the damage caused to roads in this morning's earthquake.

"Our immediate priority is ensuring the safety of road users. While most state highways in the region are open, we are asking people to take extra care and be very cautious if they do need to drive," NZTA spokesman Peter Connors said.

Initial inspections showed the region's highways appeared to have held up well, but it could be several weeks before the full extent of any damage was known, Mr Connors said.

All state highways in and around Christchurch were usable, and all major structures, including the Lyttelton Tunnel, had been given the all clear.

State Highway 77 between Methven and Windwhistle was the only state highway currently closed because of earthquake damage.

KiwiRail chief executive Jim Quinn said rail links to Christchurch from the south had been restored, clearing the way for a delivery of almost 300,000 litres of drinking water.

"Our priority today has been to get as much of the network reopened as quickly as possible so we can assist with the recovery programme," Mr Quinn said.

Although damage in Kaiapoi meant the Main North Line could be closed there for up to three days, it was expected that the network would be reopened to as far south as Rangiora this evening.

"We would then be in a position to run trains from Picton to Rangiora and move goods from there into Christchurch by road," Mr Quinn said.

"We are already talking to major freight forwarding companies to see if there any need to run special services carrying essential supplies from the North Island over the next few days."

Lyttelton Port said it was open despite suffering some damage in the quake. The port expected to resume cargo operations today, with limited impact on shipping movements.

Christchurch International Airport reopened this afternoon after the runways and infrastructure were assessed for damage.

Air New Zealand said 77 domestic flights and 11 international flights had been affected by the airport closure, and it was likely to take the rest of the day to clear the backlog of passengers.

Inbound international flights had been diverted to Auckland and Wellington airports.

Meanwhile, cellular networks were this afternoon continuing to ask people not to use cellphones except for essential calls to avoid overloading the system.

Networks were being restored to normal with both generator and mains power, after they began to run out of power as batteries went flat because of widespread power cuts.

The batteries at many cellular sites had from three to eight hours life after the power was cut and both Telecom and Vodafone said although the networks did not crash, they immediately encouraged people to stay off their cellphones.

Some cellular calls were affected but both major cellphone companies said the networks generally performed well.

- NZPA