Community ready for a ‘rock n’ roll day ‘when big waves hit the south shore

So far the south coast of Wellington has not been damaged by the large waves that hit the shore on Sunday.

Times of crisis were expected at 11:44 a.m. M., When a high tide was combined with waves of 4 to 4.5 meters.

Wellington City Council confirmed it had no reports of damage as of 12.20pm, after the high tide had gone.

However, MetService’s strong surf advisory said that the peak of the waves was expected around noon.

They would reach up to 4.5m before dropping to about 3.5m on Sunday night.

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The council was monitoring the situation together with MetService and the Wellington Region (Wremo) Office of Emergency Management on Sunday morning.

Residents were informed and messages were sent through social media. Contractors were on hold.

The big swell drew in surfers from the region who were on the southern beaches on Sunday morning.

Authorities were criticized in April when Niwa forecast waves of 4-6 meters, but communication failures meant that this was not transmitted to residents in time.

In that case, on a blue sky day, the houses had to be evacuated and one person was dragged into the sea, but came out again.

Owhiro Bay resident Eugene Doyle said Sunday morning that this time there had been good communication from MetService but, because the forecast was for waves “just below the trigger point,” no formal warning was issued. .

Yet the community was ready for a “rock n ‘roll day,” he said.

MetService said the big waves passed through Christchurch at 6.45am Sunday and were expected in Wellington around 8am.