Trampers trapped but weather eases

A large group of trampers remains trapped on the shores of Lake Waikaremoana despite the rest of the country getting a reprieve from the week's wicked weather.

Twenty-seven trampers, including overseas tourists and boy scouts, spent the night in a Department of Conservation hut as bad weather and rough waters made evacuation impossible.

Wairoa police sergeant Chris Flood said the trampers were running low on food and had no power, but police held no fears for their safety.

It was still cold and wet there last night, with SH38 near Waikaremoana closed by snow - but around the country roads were re-opening as conditions eased.

The Desert Road opened at noon after being closed by snow for more than two days, while the Napier-Taupo Road and the Rimutaka Hill Road also re-opened to traffic yesterday. However, police were still urging motorists to drive with extreme care.

MetService said it no longer had any road snow warnings in place and residents in northern Gisborne and Eastern Bay of Plenty hit by severe gales on Friday could expect more settled weather.

Forecasters said the depression on the northeast of the North Island was expected to drift away. Down south, clear weather and melting snow meant more than 100 linesmen could work to reconnect the last of the South Canterbury customers left without power for almost two weeks.

Around 400 of 12,000 homes that lost electricity in recent storms were still cut off yesterday, but Alpine Energy chief Greg Skelton hoped power would be restored to many of them by nightfall. Civil Defence was sending staff to check on some of those still without electricity.