High winds cancel 28 flights at Wellington Airport

Report from RNZ
Twenty eight flights were cancelled at Wellington Airport since 5pm today, because of high winds.

An airport spokesperson said a flight from Brisbane was diverted to Christchurch.

Air New Zealand spokesperson David Morgan said the airline was working on re-accommodating customers, but seats on some flights were limited because of the long weekend.

Strong wind warnings were in place for Wairarapa, Wellington and the Marlborough Sounds until 10am Friday.

MetService warned those in the lower North Island and upper South Island of severe gale northwesterlies gusting up to 120 kilometres an hour in exposed places.

Fire and Emergency said it had sent firefighters to three places in Wellington where building or roof materials were lifting in the wind, and there were two callouts for low-hanging powerlines or telephone lines.

A taxi driver reported seeing cyclists blown off their bikes by wind gusts in Evans Bay, near the airport.

A StraitNZ Bluebridge spokesperson confirmed high winds delayed berthing of one of its vessels in Wellington. “The ship has since berthed, but this does have the flow on effect of delays into the evening and tomorrow morning.”

A KiwiRail spokesperson said the company was monitoring the situation, but “at this stage we are not expecting any disruption to the Interislander due to the weather”.