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Torrential rains and landslides leave Wellington cut off

Repair gangs raced to clear highways into the capital yesterday after an overnight bout of powerful winds and torrential rain caused flooding and rockslides that cut off Wellington from the rest of North Island, officials said.

Two more cold fronts were expected to add to the nation's weather woes over coming days.

Troops in heavy trucks reached motorists stranded by a string of landslides on one of the major roads into the capital, authorities said.

The storm -- the second in five days -- packed rain, thunder and gales that swept across the area, causing floods and landslides, emergency officials said.

Major rivers, already swollen by unseasonal rains, were expected to rise again during the day but not cause serious flooding, civil defense controllers said.

The nation's weather service warned a further front with gale-force winds will dump heavy rains on South Island and the lower parts of North Island late today.

A fourth cold weather front, with northwest gales and likely heavy rain, was due late Monday, Metservice weather forecaster Erick Brenstrum said.

He could offer no reason for the unseasonally severe weather, already responsible for the most costly storm in the nation's recent history.

Insurers expect damage from the first storm, which hit last weekend, to cost more than NZ$100 million (US$70 million).

Winds and rain from that storm sent waters raging out of rivers and streams to inundate tens of thousands of hectares of farmland, drowning thousands of farm animals and submerging hundreds of homes in southern North Island.

Flash flooding from the second storm early yesterday close to Paekakariki village, about 40km from the capital, trapped cars on the nation's main highway and threatened the township.

The other route into Wellington -- over the Rimutaka Range -- was closed by 14 land slips across the road, forcing the army to rescue drivers, officials said.
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