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Girl killed in storm - 5000 houses left in the dark

Published on July 13^th 2009, 8:57am

The death happened amid a fierce storm that lashed Northland and left a trail of destruction across the region, knocking out power to thousands of homes and sending emergency services scrambling to cope with calls for help.

Strong winds caused a Puriri tree with a tree house in its branches to fall on a caravan and kill Danielle Anne Finlayson just before 1am yesterday at Whakapara, 23km northwest of Whangarei.

Another person in the caravan escaped injury and raised the alarm with the family in the rural house in Peach Orchard Rd.

Emergency services battled gusting winds and torrential rain for about an hour before they were able to free the trapped teenager, but she was already dead.

Hikurangi volunteer chief fire officer Snow Buckton said large branches holding a tree hut had fallen on the caravan and had to be “propped up out of the way” before firefighters could cut their way through the caravan.

He described it as “windy as hell” and emotionally difficult for some of the rescuers who knew the family and Danielle.

As storms clouds began to clear yesterday, family and friends gathered at the house.

The family declined to speak to the Northern Advocate, saying it was an extremely traumatic time.

The tree hut, nearly the size of the caravan, remained perched on the caravan.

It is believed some of the family lived in the tree hut before their house was built.

Power blackouts

Lines companies were flat out restoring electricity to 5000 customers who were in the dark at the peak of the storm.

Whangarei-based Northpower returned power to 1000 customers and Kaikohe-based Top Energy 4000 customers.

Northpower network services manager Graham Dawson said only a handful of homes remained without power at Taiharuru near Whangarei Heads late yesterday.

Most calls were received yesterday morning when people woke up without power, Mr Dawson said.

All main networks were back in action by the end of the weekend and workers spent last night repairing service lines connected to private properties.

During the weekend Northpower attended major jobs at Whakapara where a tree had fallen on lines and at Taiharuru where two concrete power poles carrying an 11,000-volt cable dropped on to the road. Unrestrained tarpaulins also caused havoc after becoming entangled in powerlines at Bland Bay and on Otaika Valley Rd.

Top Energy network manager Keith Gilby said power outages occurred from Houhora to Waipapa, Whangaroa, Kawakawa, Paihia and Moerewa.

At the height of the storm more than 12,000 customers had been affected. Mr Gilby anticipated most customers would have their power back on by 6pm yesterday.

Sewage overflows

Firefighters across Northland responded to numerous calls for help with the first of 34 calls for brigades from Kaitaia to Wellsford coming in at 12.08am yesterday.

Even Northlanders with power faced a night without television on Saturday after analogue transmission was lost in the Whangarei area.

Whangarei District Council spokeswoman Ann Midson said stormwater had gone into the sewage system causing sewer overflows at Hatea, Okara, Jordan Valley and Butter Factory Lane.

Power cuts in the Whangarei Heads area had cut power to pumping stations and caused an overflow on the yacht club side of Solomon’s Point. The District Health Board and the Northland Regional Council had been advised.

View the article at northernadvocate.co.nz

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