Storm update 11am - windows go in Basin Reserve

* The Basin Reserve has been closed to the public. About 15 windows in the R A Vance Stand have been blown out - and glass fragments have been blown out into the roadway. It is feared more windows could be blown out. People are advised to stay away from the area.

* Electricity has been cut to many areas of the city as falling trees and branches bring down power lines.

* Takapu Road, a rural road near Tawa, has been closed by flooding, slips and fallen trees.

* Moa Point Road remains closed due to huge seas breaking over the southern end of the Wellington Airport runway.

* The road from Seatoun to Breaker Bay has been closed at the Pass of Branda due to water and debris

* Stewart Duff Drive, on the eastern side of the Airport, is closed because cladding is being blown off a hangar.

* Makara Road and Ohariu Valley Road closed by fallen trees and power lines.

* Council Parks staff have closed off the walking tracks on Tinakori Hill due to the danger caused by many falling trees.

* Panels have blown off two buildings at Queens Wharf on the waterfront, and windows have been blown in at the former Herd Street Post Office Building. People are advised to stay away from the area.

City Council Infrastructure Manager Stavros Michael says damage and disruption around the city and region is significant. "The city has taken a right old battering."

He says the Council's Call Centre has handled several hundred calls this morning. "It's been as busy as it gets." He says Call Centre staff have dealt with more than 40 reports of fallen trees, 30 reports of power lines down - and scores of other incidents."

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>