Ohakune lashed by storm

Ruapehu Bulletin, 10 August 1990, Page 3

Ohakune lashed by storm

Few Ohakune properties seemed to survive last Sunday's four hour storm without some damage and some suffered thousands of dollars in damage.

Builders are still working on major and minor repairs to houses, fences and garage roofs after bad weather followed the weekend blow. Perhaps the most graphic demonstration of the power if not the most damaging, was the sight of the Rochfort Park goal posts which are made of steel pipe, bent over more than 45 degrees. No accurate reading of the wind's

strengtn was possioie, though conservation officer Rob McCallum reported that he tried to read the wind strength but it was off the scale of his anemometer, which could only read a maximum of 60 knots. Despite the fury of the storm no injuries were reported as a result of the storm though a number of people were close to the damage. Turn page 7

Northeriv Storm Lashes Waimarino

From page 3 Mrs Pat Gordon of Arawa Street probably had the luckiest escape when the roof of her neighbours' garage, two doors down on the corner of Shannon Street, crashed into the side of her kitchen and carport, while she was in the kitchen. The garage roof, belonging to Jim and Fay Hanright, was torn off the building at about 8.10am and tossed across three neighbouring properties. Dents and gouges were caused to the first neighbours' garage (Godfreys) and roofing iron punched into the wall of the third house down, 50 metres away. Two cars belonging to Huia and Pat Gordon were also extensively damaged by the roof. Seven house windows were broken and a number of trees and shrubs damaged. Rain for days after the storm did not help Greg and Catherine Ellis of Lakes Road recover from

the damage they suffered, which was possibly the worst in the area. About 5 am on Sunday morning, not long after getting to bed after celebrating their daughter's wedding of the day before, half their roof was torn away and tossed 40 metres down the side of a

hill. The fire brigade called to help but fellow Ruapehu Lions were already on the spot helping the Ellises and their wedding guests cover the damaged farm house with tarpaulins. King Country Electric Power Board workers

were kept busy with power poles down and about six trees causing power problems. The roof of a Ruapehu Gardens storage shed, designed to withstand 150kph winds, was damaged with a number of lengths of iron torn away. Fork truck pellets

and carrot bins were also tossed about 20 metres. The Ohakune Volunteer Fire Brigade attended 11 callouts, virtually one after the other, during the storm. Most calls were to nail down damaged roofing materials. Three calls were to

Rangataua where two house roofs and the Rangataua Hall roof needed attention, they called on the Hanrights, Fetzers of Tawhero Street (who lost part of their roof) and Morriseys of Shannon Street (who suffered damage to their garage). They also attended to

roof damage at Berry 's Bookshop, Wholesome Foods and the Ruapehu College office, where staff and friends had dealt with damage there. One call was in aid of Ministry of Ttansport officer Ian Harrison who was having difficulties with a runaway water tank on Raetihi Road.