A witness to the accident in which a truck driver was impaled by a canoe says it was "swinging out on to the oncoming lane like a jousting pole".

The suspension of 15 striking laboratory workers in the North Island this morning was an attempt to intimidate them, their union says.

A 4.3 magnitude earthquake struck the Whanganui region this afternoon.

Police are searching for a man who smashed a car into an overbridge near Levin and took off on foot early today.

Slips and surface flooding are causing havoc for motorists in the lower North Island as heavy rain and gale force winds sweep the region.

A runaway truck rolled down a hill and fatally pinned a 62-year-old against another truck in a tragedy that has shocked a small community.

A wide cross-section of the Feilding community turned out for a candlelit service tonight in response to recent tragic deaths, and to celebrate the town's strength of spirit.

Police have been cleared of any wrongdoing over the death of a 22-year-old motorcyclist after a pursuit last year, the IPCA has found.

Hundreds felt a 'sharp, short jolt' which has reportedly caused some damage in Whanganui.

Police are continuing to investigate the deaths of two men and a woman whose bodies were found in a house on the outskirts of Feilding today.

The man killed when his car crashed into the Manawatu Gorge near Ashhurst yesterday morning has been identified.