Batten down the hatches

[Tank]

The rain has caused slips about 400m from my house. At least one house terribly damaged - 12 homes evacuated at the moment. Stuff quotes:

A large slip caused the evacuation of more than a dozen homes on Auckland's North Shore.

One Torbay home has been severely damaged and is danger of collapse. If it slips down the hill it will take another three houses with it, and slam into a further 11 homes.

The rain is still coming down here - those poor, poor people with their homes in such trouble. I often see kids playing in the front of these homes - they are family homes. I sincerely hope that the misery ends with the homes already damaged. I down want to look down there in the morning and see a huge bloody landslip filled with peoples homes and possessions.

They must have been moved quickly - several of the homes still have cars in the driveways - so Im guessing that they were made to get out "Now!!!"

[Mikkel]

I just heard about a cruise ship being thrown around by the storm and that several people on board were injured.
Is this the boat that Col and Speedygirl are on? I sure don't hope so!

[Number One]

I just heard about a cruise ship being thrown around by the storm and that several people on board were injured.
Is this the boat that Col and Speedygirl are on? I sure don't hope so!

I wondered that too...surely COl would just jump out with Speedygirl on his back and paddle safely to shore

Maybe there is something in their thread?

[MadDuck]

Col and speedygirl are still on dry land.

The boat they were sposed to catch "yesterday" is not going to be back in Auckland until tonight. They lose 2 days off their trip which is a real bummer!

[Mikkel]

Col and speedygirl are still on dry land.

The boat they were sposed to catch "yesterday" is not going to be back in Auckland until tonight. They lose 2 days off their trip which is a real bummer!

Heaps better than being thrown around out on the open sea by a big-arse storm! Glad to hear they wasn't out there...

3 seriously injured in a weather where helicopter evacuation isn't really an option -> not good!

[Number One]

Col and speedygirl are still on dry land.

The boat they were sposed to catch "yesterday" is not going to be back in Auckland until tonight. They lose 2 days off their trip which is a real bummer!

Thanks for letting us know that they are SAFE It is good to know that they are ok. Pity about the lost time on their holiday but at least they weren't suffering in high seas like all those other poor buggers.

[MadDuck]

One of my staff was on the dreaded cruise so I am looking forward to hearing all the stories.

We intend to put a bucket with a toilet seat on top beside her desk on Monday so she feels like she never got off the boat

[doc]

Yep it's winter guys...htfu

Nop....lets score it after ends first plus I enjoy weather...been stuck 12,000 feet up in a whiteout so a wee bit of rain and wind ain't nothing...

If it was the worst storm ever it may get my attention....but in a decade..geeze...how serious is that..

Well boyo, been on my patch since 1982. Worst damage we have ever had. Just spent my last 3 days off, chainsawing and stacking firewood. Plus cleaning up the usual crap after a big blow.

Will next time the lakes are low in winter and electricity is rocketing in price.

I will briefly think of you . Thanks mate.

[BIHB@0610]

........ cleaning up the usual crap after a big blow.

Um .... think you're doing something wrong there Scummy! Well, someone is!

[Grahameeboy]

Well boyo, been on my patch since 1982. Worst damage we have ever had. Just spent my last 3 days off, chainsawing and stacking firewood. Plus cleaning up the usual crap after a big blow.

Will next time the lakes are low in winter and electricity is rocketing in price.

I will briefly think of you . Thanks mate.

Always thinking of you too....

[Beemer]

We lost power at 7am last Wednesday (July 30) and didn't get it restored until 7pm Monday (August 4)! It came on for five minutes on Sunday but then the transformer outside our neighbour's exploded and burst into flames... The storm was really bad all day Wednesday and we lost about 10 trees that were just ripped out of the ground. Luckily we have an orchard down the road and then the neighbour's house and hedge so we got a little bit of shelter. The house was undamaged but our garden looks like a bomb hit it.

The whole house is covered in mud and pine needles and the worst part was, we'd just had our concrete path dug up the day before so there was mud everywhere!

We'd had a garden design woman here a few weeks earlier and thankfully the majority of the trees that we lost were ones we were about to pay someone to remove anyway. But there is a hell of a lot of green waste to clean up.

I'd just bought Andy a combo pole saw and hedge trimmer for his birthday a week earlier so he's out there now sawing to his heart's content!

We'll have a cheap power bill next month but considering we had to go out and buy a generator, it's not going to be much of a saving.

Photos don't really show it that well, but you can get an idea from this one of what was on its way down in the storm. Luckily we are on a ridge so it all fell well away from the house and garage. These three or four trees on the right were about 30-40 foot tall and they were torn out by the roots.