Worst Recorded Storm In N.Z.

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31974, 29 April 1969, Page 22

Worst Recorded Storm In N.Z.

, "The Press" Special Service !\ ' WELLINGTON, April 28. ; I The Wahine storm on April 10 last year was ' ’ the worst recorded by , i instruments in New’ Zea- I land. ■ I 1 The storm was rated as a , bad one on world standards, < according to the director of i i meteorological services in 1 , Wellington, Dr J. F. Gabites, I one of three meteorologists ' who addressed the Wellington branch of the Royal So- , ciety of New Zealand. I Dr J.' F. de Lisle, assistant ; director of research, said the ; return expectancy of this kind of storm was once in . several hundred years. , Dr Gabites said weather , stations knew five days in advance of a cyclone approaching New Zealand, and warnings were given to ships. i As the cyclone passed over! Wellington the severity of disturbance greatly increased , when the cyclone met a . southerly air stream. Winds i whipped to more than 100 ’ m.p.h. The greatest wind recorded ! rSund Wellington in the i storm was 167 m.p.h. at Otei ranga Bay. Closer to the city 1 | centre, at Kelburn, winds i reached 123 m.p.h., and at Pipitea Wharf, almost at sea . level, the maximum was 108 < m.p.h. The Wahine storm began as \a tropical cyclone and. was ! . first noticed on April 5 off i the Solomon Islands. On Sunday. April 7, the cyclone . passed the north tip of New ■ Guinea Although the cyclone was i small at that stage, warnings were sent to ships at sixhourly intervals. As the cyclone passed over . New Caledonia on Monday at 1 midnight, it appeared to have

weakened, but conditions were idea! for it to re-form. Warnings were increased, and. as predicted, the cyclone re-formed. The uncertain factor was on which side of New Zealand it would come down. At .first it was thought it would follow the west coast of the (North Island, but its pattern changed to the east. All Tuesday the storm increased its intensity. At 3 a m. on Wednesday it rushed through Taupo and was (travelling at 40 m.p.h. over Napier at 6 a,m. | The centre of the northern cyclone rushed into Wellingjton about 9 a.m., spinning about fit) m.p.h., and hit the southerly airstream. Data from the storm were still being processed to help engineers with information on the effect of wind on buildings. Dr Gabites said.