Local Floods, Water Shortage, and Polar Blast

Its been all go here in our part of the world, starting with very heavy rains causing local flooding.  So much rain caused the local Council to send out a message to residents to stop using water immediately.  The water treatment plants were struggling to effectively treat the mud, silt and debris in the waterways and the reservoirs were at very low levels.  Water tankers have been providing fresh water to residents and many households have an emergency water supply tank which can be used.   

As if that isn’t enough to contend with, we have been waned that a polar blast is sweeping up the country from Antarctica.  All Air New Zealand flights in and out of the country's southernmost airports  been cancelled due to the worsening weather.  The national carrier said the polar blast was causing disruption across much of the South Island with Dunedin, Invercargill and Queenstown flights now cancelled due to the wind and snow.

Further travel disruption is expected with the Interislander ferry cancelling all sailings and likely to be extended into Wednesday. Forecasters say the cold front will sweep northwards up the country during Monday, opening the freezer door to all of New Zealand.  The latest snow alert, which encompasses two-thirds of the country, will see snow start falling in the North Island tomorrow morning.   And just to keep Wellingtonians on their toes,  an "intense" hail storm hammered areas of the capital in the early hours.    People living around Wellington's south coast have been warned to be on alert for massive waves that could reach higher than 6m tomorrow night, and potentially cause local flooding and damage.

It seemed timely that Robin had our generator serviced the other day, so we know it will perform properly in case of any power cuts.  Our late friend Geoff C often used to talk about belonging to “the Red Generator Club”, and wouldn’t have a bar of  those yellow ones, it was a red generator or nothing!

Our red generator al ready for action

With cold weather like we are experiencing, we are pleased we are safely tucked up at home and not camping somewhere in the wilds.  Just the sort of weather to enjoy a bowl of porridge for breakfast today, topped with cream and brown sugar, and home made soup for lunch!