Winter has arrived ……

A winter storm arrived today, with devastating effect on a town called Levin in the southern half of the North Island, which was hit by a tornado.  Trees were ripped to pieces, a building was destroyed, and several properties were damaged while a part of SH1 experienced flooding. Vegetables growing in market gardens were ripped to shreds by hail. A severe thunderstorm watch has been lifted for many areas of the North Island, but severe weather, including big seas, rain, and strong winds, remains possible for the rest of the day.

In a freak accident during the storm, a woman in Cambridge was seeking shelter from the bad weather under a tree when a mini-tornado lifted the tree out of the ground and toppled it on top of her.  The woman was taken to hospital in a critical condition and, sadly, later died.

The wind was so strong in Auckland that the Harbour Bridge was closed to buses, reduced to four lanes and the speed was reduced to 30 kms per hour.

Lacking a blip for today, I snapped a quick photo of the grey sky and clouds before we popped over to have a drink with Mum.  As we walked along to her apartment I saw this big display of Impatiens, which looked very colourful in the gloom.

There are 9,091 new community cases today, and the seven-day rolling average is 7,981 compared to 7,533 last Thursday. The number of people in hospital is 411, including 12 in ICU. Another 5 deaths have been reported, bringing the total number of deaths to 1,022 and the seven-day rolling average to 16.