Roads re-open in Otago after weekend’s weather chaos

Cars stuck on Dunedin's Northern Motorway yesterday. Photo / ODT

All southern highways closed by the weekend’s wild weather have now re-opened as the region cleans up from the winter storm.

Overnight, several southern highways, including Dunedin’s Northern Motorway, remained closed owing to snow and ice, but they gradually re-opened throughout the day today.

Travellers were able to use State Highway 85 (the Kyeburn-Macraes turnoff) and SH94 (Milford Road) by about 9.30am, but it took until almost 1pm before SH87 (Middlemarch-Kyeburn) re-opened.

The road closures were among the disruptions caused by wild weather over the weekend.

Emergency services were not exempt from the chaos as the storm brought snow, falling trees and slippery slopes to the South.

While there were no injuries reported, cars crashed, roads were closed and homes lost power as about 20 centimetres of snow was dumped in parts of the region.

A steep icy ascent thwarted the efforts of three fire trucks attempting to reach a trapped toddler at a Wakari address, forcing firefighters to abandon their vehicles and charge the hill on foot.

UPDATE 6:10AM
SH1 Dunedin to Waitati (Leith Saddle) was REOPENED at 6am this morning. Please continue to take extra care if travelling this morning. ^AP pic.twitter.com/mCXofsGu28

— Waka Kotahi NZTA Otago & Southland (@WakaKotahiOS) July 2, 2023

A Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz) spokesman said Roslyn firefighters responded to reports of a two-year-old locked alone inside a house on Burt St at 8am yesterday.

A second crew from a Dunedin City station was sent after the first crew became stuck on the ice on Lynn St, down a steep hill below the address.

The Dunedin crew was dispatched but was redirected to Stuart St, where a police spokeswoman said a car’s brakes had failed and caused the vehicle to block the road, and it needed to be towed away.

A third fire truck headed to the scene but the crew decided to not ascend the hill due to the icy conditions, and they made their way on foot.

Firefighters eventually made it inside the house. The toddler was safe and sound and in no danger, the Fenz spokesman said.

Police responded to many other incidents across the region.

Brockville was covered in snow yesterday. Photo / ODT

The Northern Motorway in Leith Valley was closed after being blocked by several vehicles, including a milk tanker.

The Manuka Gorge highway (SH8) was down to one lane after cars became stuck.

There were delays at Tunnel Hill on the Beaumont Highway.

It re-opened about 4.10pm, but police still asked motorists to drive with care due to the conditions, a police spokeswoman said.

In a post on their Southern District Facebook page, police urged people to avoid travelling if at all possible.

Motorists were advised to take care when driving on hilly roads and in and around Dunedin and Otago due to icy conditions

“Slow down - the speed limit is just that, a limit not a target, and you may have to travel slower depending on the conditions.

“Make sure your headlights are on, and ensure you drive distraction-free.”

A police spokesman said the District Command Centre advised there had been multiple minor crashes, but fortunately, there had been no serious ones.

Police observed that many motorists were doing a good job of driving to the conditions.

Motorists on the Northern Motorway yesterday were reported to be driving well below the speed limit.

A Dunedin City Council spokesman said crews had worked hard throughout the night applying grit to roads.

Roads around Highgate had been gritted mid-morning yesterday, but snow had since fallen and frozen on top, making conditions treacherous.

“While gritting snow does little to improve traction, trucks were out applying grit to some of the iciest areas this morning.

“Black ice appeared late in some areas which caused additional problems, while snow continued to fall in the hill suburbs this afternoon.

Three Mile Hill was closed around 2.30am due to snow, and icy conditions were expected again this morning.

“Contractors will be patrolling roads overnight and treating arterial roads with grit or a de-icing agent where required to alleviate ice and frost.

Cameron Fulton and his daughter Hazel, two, enjoyed a swing in the Brockville playground as the snow belted down yesterday morning.

“While treating the roads helps to reduce risk, drivers still need to be particularly careful in icy, winter conditions.”

The council website listed eight city roads closed due to snow.

The weather left more than a hundred homes without power over Saturday night.

An outages report on the Aurora Energy website said 122 customers had been affected by a fault in the Waverly area about 10.30pm on Saturday.

Due to major damages, the fault could not be fixed until 4.30pm yesterday, the report said.

Aurora Energy customer and engagement manager Lisa Gloag said the power outage was caused by trees coming down on power lines.

She said the trees’ contact with a live power line would have likely caused the “flash and boom” reported by members of the public.

A post on the Aurora Facebook page said there had been damage at multiple spots and their crew did its best to get power restored as soon as possible.

Power was restored at 2.30pm.

MetService issued a heavy snow warning for Otago until 1am today.

MetService meteorologist David Miller said there had been 15 to 20cm of snow in parts of Otago, accumulating 200 metres above sea level.

He said the snow level would gradually rise this morning with a little bit of warming.

However, Otago and Dunedin could expect quite strong winds, especially up the coasts.

A strong wind watch had been put out for today, and he said people in exposed areas would be subject to strong winds.

The wind would still be quite strong heading into tomorrow and would not ease off until Wednesday.

The windy and blustery conditions would settle down on Wednesday heading into Thursday.

Miller said not much snow had made it north of Alexandra yesterday, with temperatures reaching 5C at Dunedin Airport.

Queenstown missed out on the snow, with temperatures at 4C. Southland, Balclutha and areas inland in the Clutha district had seen similar weather.

A heavy rain watch was issued for Clutha and Southland from 3am until 6pm today.

Tapanui, on the other hand, had seen 20cm of snow, he said.

“It’s probably a good start for the school holidays,” MetService meteorologist Paul Ngamanu said.

“A couple of movie days ... then once this flow clears off, there’ll probably be some pretty good ski conditions.”

Dunedin buses were unable to travel up Pine Hill — the route was forced to start and stop at Bank St.

The route 15 Ridge Runner and 37/38 Concord buses were suspended. Route 33 from Corstorphine and routes 44 and 55 from St Kilda travelled only to the Dunedin Bus Hub.

A Dunedin Airport spokeswoman said airport crews yesterday used de-icing equipment, but the winter weather disrupted just one service.

An inbound flight from Christchurch due at 4.25pm was cancelled, as was the corresponding flight out.

Port Otago chief executive Kevin Winders said the weather had not affected port operations.