Roads remain closed after snow and heavy rain

Ghaedyn Dukes, 11, enjoys a day off school near Norsewood.

Roads remained closed across this afternoon after snow and heavy rain across the central North Island and East Coast.

Power lines in Gisborne were damaged and the area is now reliant on generation from Waikaremoana until it can be reconnected to the national grid, transpower said.

Overnight, around 100 motorists packed in to the Te Pohue Hotel on the Napier-Taupo Road after a logging truck jack-knifed about 10km from the summit blocking the road.

People travelling on a 52-seater Intercity coach, a smaller bus and in numerous cars were taken to the hotel at about 7.30pm, after police rescued them from their vehicles.

Senior Sergeant Andy Sloane said Napier police called on the local four-wheel- drive club to ferry trapped motorists to Napier.

The Desert Road and the Napier-Taupo road remained closed at lunchtime today, the Automobile Association said. State Highway Two from Gisborne to Opotiki was also shut as contractors worked to clear snow and ice.

A number of other roads which were earlier closed had now re-opened, but the AA advised caution.

MetService said the snow had eased over the Central Plateau but heavy rain in the Gisborne and Hawkes Bay regions was the latest concern.

Snow had been falling to 500m in the Gisborne ranges, though this was now rising, and to 600m in the ranges of Hawkes Bay, which was quite unusual.

The latest bad weather comes 12 days after heavy snowfall in Canterbury left thousands without power, some of whom remained cut off from supplies today.

MetService spokesman Gerard Bellam told nzherald.co.nz that it was unusual to have such a prolonged spell of cold weather and for it to come so early in the winter.

"We have a had a few of these cold spells already," he said. "It has been a fairly long period of cold. You do get outbreaks, but not one after the other."

Auckland, which has escaped the worst of the weather, has been several degrees below normal. "The average for June is 15 degrees. Yesterday was 12 degrees, but with that cold southerly it will feel colder than that and more like single figures," he said.

He said the cold weather would begin to ease across the country from tomorrow.

More information:
>> Latest road and weather reports
>> Latest from the AA
>> MetService road snow warning

If you need assistance:
>> Civil Defence website
>> Salvation Army

- additional reporting HAWKE'S BAY TODAY, NEWSTALK ZB