Southerly Blast Calming Down – Clean up Continues

Porirua Mayor Nick Leggett has this morning praised the efforts of Porirua’s Emergency Services, Council staff, contractors and emergency management volunteers who have been working hard on managing the impact of the damaging storm that has lashed the region since last night.

“Our crews have worked tirelessly throughout the night and this morning, in an heroic effort to deal with the volumes of calls for assistance coming in to the Council’s contact centre,” Mayor Leggett says.

With the scale of damage across the region, however, the Council is having to prioritise the tasks to deal with the major problems first.

“It’s important that people continue to call us on 237 5089 if they have a problem such as reporting trees down, as the call will be logged. But we ask that people please be patient. We will get to you as soon as we can,” he says.

There are tens of thousands of homes across the region still without power and Wellington Electricity has crews working hard to get the power back on.

“It is possible that some homes may still have the power off tonight, however, in which case, people should plan to spend the night with friends or family if they can’t stay at home,” Mayor Leggett says.

The high winds are expected to drop from about midday today, but the clean-up is likely to continue for several days to come.

Mayor Leggett advises Porirua residents to, “Please be careful as you move around the region, take care of each other and keep an eye on the Porirua City Council or Wellington Region Emergency Management Office Facebook pages for any important updates.”

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