Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Wintry blast leaves trees down, snow on the hills

Samantha Olley
By Samantha Olley
Rotorua Daily Post·
11 Apr, 2018 10:12 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Richard Rika outside his Ngongotaha after a tree crashed through the roof.

Wild weather has brought down trees and left some residents without power in the Rotorua region - while dropping temperatures saw Mt Tarawera dusted with snow.

Auckland was the area worst hit by Tuesday night's storm, with 100,000 homes and businesses without power as winds reached hurricane-like speeds of between 140km/h and 213km/h.

And while Rotorua got off relatively lightly in comparison, high winds did leave damage in their wake.

Snow on Mt Tarawera. Photo/Karen Read
Snow on Mt Tarawera. Photo/Ratna Jani
Snow on Mt Tarawera. Photo/Kyle Shaw
Snow on Mt Tarawera. Photo/Charlotte Adair
A tree fell on a car in Streamdale Pl, Ngongotaha. Photo/Gloria Stafford
A tree fell on a car in Streamdale Pl, Ngongotaha. Photo/Gloria Stafford
A tree fell on a car in Streamdale Pl, Ngongotaha. Photo/Gloria Stafford
A tree fell on a car in Streamdale Pl, Ngongotaha. Photo/Gloria Stafford
Snow on Mt Tarawera. Photo/Ben Fraser
Snow on Mt Tarawera. Photo/Ben Fraser
Richard Rika outside his Ngongotaha after a tree crashed throught the roof this morning.  Photo/Ben Fraser
Ngongotaha house after a tree crashed throught the roof. Photo/Ben Fraser
Tree down on Streamdale Pl, Ngongotaha.  Photo/Ben Fraser
Tree down on Streamdale Pl, Ngongotaha.  Photo/Ben Fraser

Image 1 of 14: Snow on Mt Tarawera. Photo/Karen Read

By midday yesterday treefalls on 12 roads were reported to Rotorua Lakes Council, including a tree that took out power lines on Okataina Rd.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

And on Cecil Rd near Mamaku, a pine tree fell through power lines and across the road, leaving Abi Lister's home cut off and in total darkness from 1am.

When Lister went to drop her son at school yesterday she saw a concrete pole had fallen into three pieces and "there was a bloody great big pine tree in the way".

"I had to reverse home for two kilometres as there's no room to turn around."

She saw a Unison ute make its way up the road and her husband also tried to report the outage.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"He was on the phone for 40 minutes and gave up," she said.

A Unison spokesman apologised for the delays caused by high call volumes and the delay to restore power.

Snow could be seen on Mt Tarawera yesterday. Photo / Ben Fraser
Snow could be seen on Mt Tarawera yesterday. Photo / Ben Fraser

"Rest assured our fault teams are working extremely hard in very challenging conditions to get power restored ASAP."

He said the Unison vehicle was there to assess the damage.

"This is to ensure that there were no live power lines on the ground, or there was no further danger to the public."

By 3.20pm Unison crews were at Cecil Rd, as were workers from Fulton Hogan, who were there clearing the road for the council.

Rotorua Lakes Council said it was alerted to the fallen trees at 1.22pm.

Meanwhile in Ranginui St, Ngongotaha, the Rika family were dealing with a fallen tree on their roof.

Richard Rika outside his Ngongotaha home after a tree crashed through its roof. Photo / Ben Fraser
Richard Rika outside his Ngongotaha home after a tree crashed through its roof. Photo / Ben Fraser

"We heard a huge bang in the night and the house shook but we couldn't see what was wrong. There was no rain coming inside," Richard Rika said.

When he woke in the morning the damage was worse than he expected, and he got in touch with his insurers and an arborist.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I am just happy nobody was hurt."

Nearby in Streamdale Pl a tree fell on a car in the storm.

A tree fell on a car in Streamdale Pl, Ngongotaha. Photo / Gloria Stafford
A tree fell on a car in Streamdale Pl, Ngongotaha. Photo / Gloria Stafford

Sarah McGovern said she was shocked at the sight at the end of her cul-de-sac.

"Thank goodness it happened at night or else it could have been similar to the one in town [when a tree came down on Arawa St and killed motorist Trish Butterworth]."

The Ngongotaha Volunteer Fire Brigade was called out at 2.30am to clear trees that had fallen across passing lanes on State Highway 5, near the Tarukenga substation.

Chief fire officer Francis Boag said a crew spent an hour clearing the road.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

According to the MetService website the worst of the weather seems to be over, with a mainly fine day expected today, and showers from the evening.

But it will still be cold, with overnight lows of 8C expected tonight, Friday and Saturday.

The weekend could go either way with showers forecast at this stage.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

live
Rotorua Daily Post

Wild weather set to ease across the country, clean-up efforts begin

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

'Merry hell' in Mamaku: Village held 'to ransom' by hoons

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

11 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Wild weather set to ease across the country, clean-up efforts begin
live

Wild weather set to ease across the country, clean-up efforts begin

11 Jul 06:00 PM

The North Island is expected to get off to a wet start this morning, with lingering rain.

'Merry hell' in Mamaku: Village held 'to ransom' by hoons

'Merry hell' in Mamaku: Village held 'to ransom' by hoons

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Tearful hunter admits shooting and killing friend

Tearful hunter admits shooting and killing friend

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP