Category: Public Media

Source: Radio New Zealand

Residents across the Wellington region are getting increasingly frustrated with power providers and the lines company, with one 92-year-old forced to cart buckets of water to flush the toilet.

Schools closed and power was cut to thousands when wild weather rolled across the lower North Island overnight on Sunday.

Wellington Electricity confirmed about 700 homes in Wellington were still without power on Friday morning, while Powerco said electricity was yet to be restored to 178 homes in Wairarapa and about 1500 across the Manawatū-Whanganui regions.

Both companies said the damage to the networks had been extensive and acknowledged the frustration and ongoing disruption to those who were yet to be reconnected.

Wellington Electricity said it would donate $10 to KidsCan Charitable Trust for every customer whose power would not be restored on Friday, and that it had pulled in additional resources and cancelled all planned work to do so.

Nonagenarian forced to carry buckets of water

In Wairarapa, 92-year-old Patrick Craddock said it took until just after midday Thursday to reconnect his and his partner Peggy’s rural property.

He said they relied on electricity to power their home’s water pumps, and were forced to carry buckets of water nearly 50m to fill the cistern of their toilet.

He said a nearby neighbour – also going without power – was ill, and he hoped their supplier would have prioritised people who were elderly, sick or disabled.

“It seems to be a bit crazy that the people who are in need most have to contact Powerco and say ‘please help us’. It would be useful to have a little list so that people who are sick and disabled could fill in a little form and send it to Powerco so that something happens, because when these accidents happen it’s bloody hard to deal with it.”

RNZ put that to Powerco. It said the storm had initially affected more that 25,000 properties on its network and the severity of the damage was requiring “complete rebuilds of sections of the electricity network before power can be restored”.

“Medically dependent customers can register their needs with their electricity retailer (the company they pay their power bill to).

“Being registered does not guarantee an uninterrupted power supply, especially during faults or severe weather, so customers are encouraged to have an emergency response plan and backup options in place.”

Confusion over who to call

The onsite house manager for a central Wellington boarding house told RNZ he was shocked that a loose power connection – which sent sparks flying onto the street below – went unaddressed for days.

Robert Frazer said Fire and Emergency cordoned off the area on The Terrace but as of Thursday evening, the boarding house’s 15 tenants were still in the dark.

He said Wellington Electricity and his power provider had been contacted “multiple times”.

“You contact Wellington Electricity and they say, ‘We’re not the people you should contact, you have to contact Genesis,’ our power provider.

“So then I contact Genesis… and they say, ‘We’re not the people who actually fix it so you need to contact Wellington Electricity,’ and so it just keeps going around like that.

“No one’s prepared to say, ‘Right we’re the ones that are responsible, we’re coming out now.'”

Frazer said in a city with high winds, it was disappointing that there were not contingencies in place.

“Do you expect us as customers to put [up] with – whenever there’s strong wind in Wellington – to be without power for days”?

“If this was a really cold day in the winter time – we’ve got no heating right now – that is really substandard.”

His power was eventually restored on Friday morning.

One of the hostel’s residents, Gareth Mackay, said the first few days were manageable but it was getting harder to deal with the longer it dragged on.

“No fridges, no cooking, we can’t even shower because the hot water’s connected to power as well. It’s not good.

“I don’t think we’re doing very well honestly. It’s ridiculous.”

Genesis Energy was contacted for comment. A spokesperson for Wellington Electricity said customers must first contact their electricity retailer, who would then log a job.

“It’s essential that customers call their retailer in an outage. We cannot identify individual property outages unless a call is logged, and if one isn’t, we’ll assume the customer is part of a wider area outage.

“If someone spots anything they believe is an electricity hazard they should call our emergency line on 0800 248 148. If anyone’s in danger or there’s a fire or serious risk to property, they should call 111 immediately.”

Solo mother of two Nicola Hill was still offline after she woke to find no power in her Island Bay home on Tuesday morning.

“We just don’t know when it’s going to come back on, but we’ve been told that someone has to be at the house to allow access to help to fix the problem.

“That just means that I’ve had to be at home without access to power for the last three days. Still no one’s turned up, and you don’t have any timeframes for when things are going to be resolved,” Hill said.

Hill said the only response to her daily attempts to contact Powershop – her supplier – and Wellington Electricity had been a text asking customers to contact Powershop if their power had come back.

She said she was frustrated, but conscious of others about the country suffering worse damage.

“I think ours are just inconveniences but it does make me worry about our infrastructure and about how we’re going to cope with some of the climate-related storms that we’re going to expect.

“When we can’t have functioning sewerage and power restored very easily after these sort of – likely to be common – events.”

She felt power companies needed to be more proactive to bring in extra staff and contractors as well as establishing more reliable communications when responding to adverse weather events.

“The system at the communication end isn’t working. You get different people and they’ve got different levels of expertise. The first person didn’t know what the second person knew.

“First of all I was told it was going to be four to six hours, the next person said, ‘It’s not going to be that, it’s going to be more like 18 hours.’ Just a whole lot of really changing messages.”

A spokesperson for Powershop said they were sorry to hear that some customers were still without electricity, “although people can be affected by power cuts like this regardless of which retailer they are with”.

“Responsibility for the restoration of power sits with Wellington Electricity (just as it does with other lines companies around NZ),” they said.

Wellington Electricity said Sunday night’s winds were the strongest to hit the capital since 2013 and that it was dealing with more power cuts than expected.

It said since then power had been restored to about 21,000 homes. More than 60 faults affecting large areas had been fixed, as well as 1000 single-property failures.

A spokesperson said the “vast majority” of area outages were fixed within two days, but they’d been left with a “long tail of single-property” power cuts.

“We’re also not always able to immediately identify these faults, as some may be initially hidden by larger area outages. Some of these jobs have also been complex, requiring follow visits which has affected our original timeline.”

Downed trees prompt free green waste disposal

Wellington City Council said a major clean-up was underway following the southerly storm that ripped through the capital.

Parks and open spaces manager Bradley Schroder said the impact of the vicious winds was everywhere, with trees down all over the city, and would likely take months to clear.

The council said crews with chainsaws had been busy dealing with broken branches hanging from trees on roadsides and in the Botanic Gardens and cemeteries.

Schroder expected the 900 jobs lodged with the council to rise.

Wellington residents could dispose of green waste at the Southern Landfill for free until 5pm on Thursday 26 February. The South Wairarapa and Carterton District councils would also provide free green waste disposal this weekend.

Residents in Masterton would also be offered free disposal, but have been asked to hold onto their green waste until the disposal site – which is dealing with power issues – can accept it.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Firefighters are tackling a blaze at Auckland’s Northcote College.

Fire and Emergency NZ said they were called to the school about 12.15pm on Friday.

A crew from Silverdale is in attendance and more crews are on their way to the scene.

Smoke can be seen from the Harbour Bridge.

On social media, a school spokesperson said: “There is an active fire at Northcote College in the sports pavilion. The fire service is here.

“All students have been evacuated to the other end of the school and are safe.

“We are waiting for further direction from the fire service and will update you as we can.”

The Silverdale Volunteer Fire Brigade, which was nearly half an hour away from the college, attended even though the closest fire station, Birkenhead, is four minutes away.

The fire started during the one hour strike by the Professional Firefighters Union.

FENZ said during that hour, it was relying on volunteer brigades.

There were now other brigades on the scene.

Just last month another large fire broke out during strike action.

A building in Pakuranga was completely destroyed by fire and a person was seriously hurt.

At the time, Pakuranga MP Simeon Brown said he was “angry” on behalf of those impacted by the fire due to it happening during the strike.

“Union action that delays a response to an emergency is quite frankly reckless and the union needs to put a stop to these reckless strikes which endanger lives, homes, and businesses.”

New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union secretary Wattie Watson said contingencies were meant to be put in place during the strike.

On social media, North Shore councillor Richard Hills said it was “so sad” to see another fire at the school.

“It will be hugely upsetting to students, staff and school whānau, especially as they’re just getting back to normal, after the previous fire, and recent opening of new and upgraded buildings post construction.

“The fire service are there and thankfully all students have been evacuated to the other end of the school and are safe. The fire is very much still active.”

Hills said it was likely to cause traffic delays in surrounding areas and urged people to stay away if they didn’t need to be there.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

After a turbulent week of weather, forecasters are expecting a fine and mostly dry weekend across the country.

It will come as a welcome relief for many after severe weather once again hit the country earlier this week, causing flooding and triggering local states of emergency in Canterbury.

Friday has seen largely dry skies around the North Island with the odd shower, mainly in the west.

However, there was a low risk of thunderstorms as a series of weak fronts moved northwards over the South Island today.

MetService said there was a low risk of thunderstorms for the West Coast this morning. While on the east coast of the South Island, there were low to moderate risks of thunderstorms on Friday afternoon.

But come Saturday, the weather is looking fine and mostly dry.

“All the major centres are in for a good looking Saturday,” MetService head of weather news Heather Keats said.

Maximum temperatures on Saturday and Sunday are forecast to be in the low to mid-20s for most of the country.

“Sunday is also looking pretty decent. Again, there will be a few showers, most of those for the West Coast and deep south, but they’re short-lived,” Keats said.

On Sunday, high pressure builds over the country after a front weakens as it moves northwards across central and Northern New Zealand. Meanwhile, a trough brushes the south of the South Island, Met Service said.

MetService said there was a low confidence of severe west to southwest gales about coastal Southland, Clutha and Dunedin during Sunday morning and afternoon.

MetService’s weekend forecast

Saturday:

• Auckland – High of 22C, low of 15C
• Hamilton – High of 24C, low of 9C
• Tauranga – High of 24C, low of 12C
• Wellington – High of 19C, low of 15C
• Christchurch – High of 20C, low of 9C
• Dunedin – High of 20C, low of 12C
• Invercargill – High of 20C, low of 10C

Sunday

• Auckland – High of 23C, low of 15C
• Hamilton – High of 23C, low of 8C
• Tauranga – High of 25C, low of 13C
• Wellington – High of 22C, low of 12C
• Christchurch – High of 23C, low of 8C
• Dunedin – High of 18C, low of 10C
• Invercargill – High of 16C, low of 6C

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A third investigation has been announced into the Mount Maunganui landslide, with WorkSafe launching an official investigation into work health and safety at Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park in the lead up to the landslide on 22 January.

The health and safety investigation was independent from both the government inquiry and the Tauranga City Council’s external review.

Retired High Court judgePaul Davison, KC, was leading an external review for Tauranga City Council into the deadly landslip.

The Prime Minister had also appointed National Party Minister Chris Penk to advise Cabinet on the possible scope of an inquiry into the fatal disaster.

WorkSafe’s central regional manager Nigel Formosa said the agency had taken time to be clear about what sat within their remit.

“Our investigation will focus on work‑related matters prior to the landslide,” he said.

WorkSafe would establish whether there had been a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 by businesses and organisations related to the operation of the holiday park. This would include technical expertise and gathering information from a range of sources.

“Our team is focused on understanding the decisions and circumstances that shaped the work environment at the holiday park before the landslide. We’re committed to carrying out a careful, methodical investigation that stays grounded in evidence and the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, for the victims and their whānau. This will take time, but it’s important we complete a thorough investigation,” Formosa said.

WorkSafe said it had already started to engage with Tauranga City Council as the operator of the holiday park. The roles of other parties would also be considered in the coming months.

WorkSafe investigations could take up to 12 months from the date of an incident. Given the amount of information and technical expertise involved, the agency said it expected the investigation to take a full year.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Firefighters are tackling a blaze at Auckland’s Northcote College.

Fire and Emergency NZ said they were called to the school about 12.15pm on Friday.

A crew from Silverdale is in attendance and more crews are on their way to the scene.

Smoke can be seen from the Harbour Bridge.

On social media, a school spokesperson said: “There is an active fire at Northcote College in the sports pavilion. The fire service is here.

“All students have been evacuated to the other end of the school and are safe.

“We are waiting for further direction from the fire service and will update you as we can.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Construction has begun on a temporary 28-bed inpatient ward at Nelson Hospital.

Health Minister Simeon Brown said the ward would ease pressure on beds and improve patient flow while Nelson’s permanent inpatient building is completed.

The Nelson ward is one of five rapid‑build wards being built nationwide through the government’s accelerated hospital wards programme.

Brown previously told RNZ the temporary wards had a life span of 50 years and could be transported for use at other hospitals in the future.

“These rapid‑build wards can be delivered more quickly and at lower cost than traditional builds, enabling us to expand hospital capacity where demand is greatest. Off‑site construction allows faster delivery, better cost control, reduced disruption for hospitals, and earlier benefits for patients and staff,” he said.

A major redevelopment of the hospital announced last year will cost $500 million and take four years to complete.

The project includes a new five-storey inpatient unit with 128 beds, adding 41 beds to the hospital’s current numbers. The hospital’s existing buildings will be refurbished and seismically upgraded.

Brown said the new ward would strengthen services across Nelson Marlborough to help people access care close to home.

“Investing in modern, purpose‑built infrastructure is about supporting better care and ensuring patients remain at the centre of every decision,” he said.

The temporary ward will allow services to be relocated while the major redevelopment of the hospital gets underway.

The unit will be built off site and is expected to open later this year.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

UK lobby groups are calling on the British government to urgently delay the deadline for dual nationals to get UK passports.

It comes as reports that the British Home Office is allowing airlines to decide whether they accept expired British passports when the border changes start on Wednesday.

Advocates have accused the government of failing to communicate the impending requirement for overseas dual citizens to use a UK passport, or certificate of entitlement, saying many only found out last month.

An opposition MP, Liberal Democrat Will Forster, has also asked for a grace period to allow travellers to catch up with the change.

Campaign groups British in Europe and ‘the3million’ wrote to the government this week along with immigration lawyers asking for the deadline to be postponed. They also want the cost of a certificate of entitlement, now a £589 (NZ$1330) digital addition to a foreign passport, to be significantly reduced.

“Please hit the pause button,” the3million’s head of advocacy Monique Hawkins told RNZ. “Think again, do more comms. Canada paused it twice before they began their enforcement. But from what we’ve heard, I think they’re digging in and they’re not prepared to move on this at all.”

Getting a certificate of entitlement could be a very complex, expensive process, she said, but for people with a recently expired passport it could be made a lot more straightforward.

“It should cost no more than the cost of a passport, I think, and they could just maintain one passport then,” she said. “We would like carriers to show flexibility for carriers to perhaps look at an expired British passport and think, yes, OK, we can accept that.

“If you look at what Canada did. Canada had exactly the same problem for its own dual nationals, but they came up with a pragmatic solution.”

Canada’s workaround, a special authorisation, was still open to its citizens 10 years after it required its nationals to use its passport, she said.

Using an expired UK passport

The UK Guardian is reporting that the Home Office said airline carriers could at their own discretion accept an expired British passport as alternative documentation, in addition to a valid foreign passport.

It would be a further frustration for dual nationals who had sent their expired UK passport away to get a new one to comply with the new rules, the newspaper noted.

Hawkins called on airlines who will implement the new regime to be sympathetic, but she feared many people would be turned away at international check-in desks. Carriers face a £2000 (NZ$4500) fine per passenger for allowing passengers with incorrect documentation to board.

A Carrier Support Hub was a 24/7 Home Office service airlines could contact to check that someone was British, she said.

The groups want the government to reconsider its overall position. “People are saying I’m just going to renounce my British citizenship. You know, it’s an expensive process to renounce it, but I’ve had it. Why should I still feel any loyalty towards the UK?

“And I think that’s tragic, really. I mean, that’s not how our country should treat its citizens. I really don’t understand what the mischief is that they’re trying to address. They want to know who’s coming to the country. It is just crazy that a New Zealand national coming as a tourist can get an ETA for £16 no problem and their dual British New Zealand partner is blocked from going to this country that they once belonged to. It doesn’t make sense.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop says Wellington Water needs to “sort it out” and fix a flooded cycleway.

The rail underpass tunnel on the $70 million cycleway at Petone was still thigh-deep in water on Friday morning, days on from Monday’s storm.

New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has passed responsibility to Hutt City Council, which passed it to Wellington Water.

Bishop, who is also the local MP for Hutt South and transport minister, said it flooded because a pump station lost power during the weather bomb.

“It’s clear that Wellington Water are responsible for the pumps, sumps and drains,” he told RNZ on Friday. “Wellingtonians know all too well about the problems with that organisation. As infrastructure minister, I urge them to sort it out.”

Commuting cyclists were now choosing to avoid the tunnel and take their bikes instead through the railway station’s pedestrian underpass tunnel, which remains dry. While it was at the same depth as the cycleway tunnel, it was 200m to the north, further away from Korokoro Stream.

Wellington Water was grappling with its biggest ever disaster at the Moa Point treatment station, which had been spewing raw sewage onto the capital’s south coast.

The agency did not mention a pump when asked earlier about the underpass.

RNZ has asked Wellington Water about the pump.

It said instead on Wednesday the underpass was a “multi-agency dependency”.

“New Zealand Transport Agency is obviously responsible for the state highway. Wellington Water manages the stormwater culvert and Greater Wellington Regional Council [manages] the waterway – in this case, the Korokoro Stream.”

This was under a decades-old water courses agreement.

NZTA designed and built the cycleway that blew its budget by almost three times, working out at $25m per kilometre – about the same as some state highways cost – partly because it did not anticipate so much contamination of the strip under the path or how it had a lot of cables and pipes already running under it.

The agency was now a lead partner in the much more expensive harbour cycleway that will connect to the Petone one, and in the two huge state highway projects nearby, Riverlink and Petone-to-Grenada.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Cantabrians have been jolted by a short, sharp earthquake.

Geonet which monitors earthquakes says the “moderate” magnitude 2.8 quake was around 10 kilometres deep and centred south-east of Christchurch.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand