Storm Wellington

We arrived home early in the morning having spent three weeks exploring the delights of the Canadian Rockies.
The Air Hostess opened the plane doors and the wind rocketed in. "Welcome to Wellington," she said.

During our absence Wellington experienced a storm more violent than our usual storms with winds getting up to 200 kilometres an hour. The rail system was put out of action and the seas of the South Coast had fifteen metre swells which threw water up on the roads making them impassable.

Damage caused by trees falling in a neighbouring suburb

Links to videos of storm damage:
Major storm mop up gets under way
Wellington /storm
Clean up
A week later

And at Zealandia a pine tree fell on the outer fence causing a breach. Two volunteers who had taken on the job of walking around part of the outside of the sanctuary every few days to check for issues came across the fallen tree and stood in the gap to prevent any animal getting inside until help arrived. Zealandia staff have planned for these occasions and people swung into action. They worked into the wee small hours to fix the fence, fortified by scones and hot drinks provided by the Rata Cafe.
Then, having just finished the yearly pest audit, they had to complete it again putting out bait stations, checking for footprints etc. So far, so good. Nothing untoward seems to have made its way in thank goodness and Zealandia's systems have stood it in good stead.

Pines blown over in the wind

The damage

                                             .Hopefully no pests made it in.

Working in the dark to fix the fence

An extra piece has been put on top to deter cats from jumping in

 Sounds like it was a good time to be out of Wellington!