Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
SEVERE WEATHER RED WARNING STATE OF EMERGENCY IN CANTERBURY New Zealand
The places worst hit by the fierce winds ripping through NZ
In an hour, temperatures halved and wind speeds accelerated alarmingly. At the top of the south, wind gusts exceeded 230kph, while Nelson Hospital lost electricity when its generators failed.
It was a tale of two halves in Canterbury - the further north you drove, the fiercer the wind and the damage was.
North of Waiau irrigators lay where they had been tossed by the wind, while giant pine trees looked as though they had been plucked from the ground, leaving huge gashes and gaping roots.
And the nearer you got to Hanmer Springs, the more the smell of smoke filled the air.
One farmer said she had never seen winds as strong as Thursday’s in all her years of farming.
SEVERE WEATHER RED WARNING STATE OF EMERGENCY IN CANTERBURY New Zealand
The places worst hit by the fierce winds ripping through NZ
In an hour, temperatures halved and wind speeds accelerated alarmingly. At the top of the south, wind gusts exceeded 230kph, while Nelson Hospital lost electricity when its generators failed.
It was a tale of two halves in Canterbury - the further north you drove, the fiercer the wind and the damage was.
North of Waiau irrigators lay where they had been tossed by the wind, while giant pine trees looked as though they had been plucked from the ground, leaving huge gashes and gaping roots.
And the nearer you got to Hanmer Springs, the more the smell of smoke filled the air.
One farmer said she had never seen winds as strong as Thursday’s in all her years of farming.
