Wellington Occupants Won’t Be Blown Away

Reports are coming in from across Wellington of windows having been blown in, roofs that have been lifted and trees that were brought down by gusts of up to 140 kph. At least one ferry service has been cancelled and planes have been unable to land at Wellington airport.

Meanwhile, the occupants at Occupy Wellington are busy tidying up camp in preparation for a long day of further high winds at Wellington’s Civic Square.

Fifteen occupants roughed it through the night despite the wind, with a further seven in Upper Hutt supporting the locked out meat workers in Martin. Many regular occupants choose to stay at home or with friends and family, rather than endure another sleepless night at Occupy Wellington, only to return to camp to find their tents in various states of disarray.

A lot of the tents are just not designed for this kind of weather. Many tents were torn down by gale force winds. The greenhouse (also serving as our temporary information tent) had to be taken down before it was destroyed. Four occupants stayed up through the night to ensure the camp was secure, that the rest of the camp was suitably sheltered and that nothing blew away.

Unaffected by the wind was the camp’s trusty wind turbine, which is still going strong producing power to charge the camp’s cellphones and laptops.

According to forecaster Oliver Druce “There will be north-west gales and rain until 6pm this evening when there will be a southerly change.”

Written by Robert von Garrett (On-site reporter for Occupy Wellington)

ENDS

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