Dunedin residents are being encouraged to stay home and stay safe until today’s wild weather passes.
DCC General Manager City Services Scott MacLean says the city is still experiencing severe winds, which are expected to continue into the evening, and a full clean-up operation will get underway only once it is safe to do so.
“I want to thank everyone for their patience and understanding during this weather event. Our crews are working round the clock in incredibly challenging conditions to respond to a significant number of incidents, but the recovery from this event will take some time.”
Today’s powerful winds have toppled trees, damaged property, and brought down power lines, cutting power to parts of the city. A full list of outages can be found here.
DCC contractors have logged more than 50 jobs across the city’s roading network, mainly involving fallen trees. There are currently 13 road closures in effect and contractors are clearing and reopening roads only where it is safe to do so.
The road closures include Highcliff Road, while Portobello Road is down to one lane in places. A full list of road closures can be found here.
Mr MacLean says, “We’re encouraging everyone to avoid all unnecessary travel, and for everyone who is on the road to take extreme care in areas with trees and when driving around blind corners.
“Stay home if you can and stay safe until this weather event is over.”
The Dunedin Botanic Garden and Green Island landfill closed for the day, while scheduled kerbside collections were suspended.
Rubbish not collected today will be collected tomorrow, conditions permitting, but recyclables missed today will be collected on affected residents’ next scheduled service.
The Dunedin Botanic Garden will be assessed tomorrow morning before a decision on reopening is made.
Residents are also being asked to conserve water, as power outages have affected pump stations at different locations across the city.
While there is no immediate impact, and generators are being deployed where needed, we’re taking a precautionary approach while the weather event continues.
The wind has also caused some damage to the Dunedin Ice Stadium roof and at Forbury Park, while the Dunedin Railway Station lost tiles from part of its roof and Forsyth Barr Stadium suffered minor damage to some roof flashings.
Keep an eye on weather forecasts by MetService: https://www.metservice.com/