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Ita's tail wreaks havoc across NZ

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 17 April 2014 | 15.02

ROADS are closed, roofs blown off, and thousands of homes and businesses left without power as storms lash much of the country.

The fire service had received 844 emergency calls by 4pm local time on Thursday, with about a quarter coming from the West Coast of the South Island.

Winds of up to 140km/h from the tail end of Cyclone Ita caused havoc in Buller, blocking roads and knocking out power to almost all the region's 4500 customers.

Buller Electricity chief executive Erik Westergaard says only the small town of Karamea has power, and that's through a diesel generator.

"I had to go outside because a pole was about to fall over and the wind picked me up and shifted me 10m across the road," Mr Westergaard told AAP.

As he spoke, a sheet of iron blew over the building and landed on the fence surrounding the Westport substation.

"We've got three crews out in the field, but they can't go anywhere because trees are blocking the road, but we know they're safe."

Further south, Cobden Bridge at Greymouth was closed because of strong winds and a welfare centre has been set up so stranded motorists can spend the night at Greymouth Baptist Church.

Earlier, about 15,000 Auckland customers of Vector Energy had lost power after fallen trees and other debris knocked out power.

Vector's crews were gradually restoring power as the storm moved south and by 7pm about 2300 customers were still facing a blackout.

Hundreds of people in the Rotorua area were also without power after gales and heavy rain brought down trees and power lines.

Numerous roads were closed in Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Coromandel during the day by fallen trees and power lines, and flooding.

By the evening, New Zealand Transport Agency said State Highway 2 between Western Drain and Awakeri in Bay of Plenty was still closed by fallen trees.

Coromandel's Kopu-Hikuai Road reopened as far as the Whangamata turn-off, but remained closed from there through to Tairua.

Senior Sergeant Rupert Friend, of Waikato Police District, said there was still surface water in areas where roads were open and he urged extreme caution by all drivers "as now it is dark the surface water is harder to see".

The bad weather also caused Interislander ferry sailings to be cancelled and a landslip that resulted in two Oriental Parade properties in Wellington being evacuated.

MetService meteorologist Dan Corbett said the weather would gradually improve over Easter weekend as the tropical low drifted south.

"The intense band of rain and strong to severe gales will sink south to engulf central parts of New Zealand by the end of Thursday, followed by slowly improving weather in the far north," he said.

"The wet and windy weather will still affect eastern parts of the South Island early on Good Friday, but it will improve gradually here too as the tropical low drifts south away from the country."


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Bodies recovered from NSW mine

THE bodies of both men who died in a Hunter Valley coal mine collapse have been recovered.

Phillip Grant, 35, from Maitland and 49-year-old Cessnock resident Jamie Mitchell died when a wall collapsed in the Austar Coal Mine in Paxton on Tuesday night.

They had been working 500 metres below the surface and 10 kilometres along the mine.

Workmates attempted to save them on Tuesday night but were forced to leave the mine because of safety fears, with both men pronounced dead just after midnight on Wednesday.

Police confirmed they had recovered Mr Mitchell's body about 8am on Thursday with Mr Grant's body recovered just before 5pm.

Police have established a crime scene and the mine will remain closed indefinitely.


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Vic man in court over partner's murder

A man wanted over the fatal stabbing of his partner in a busy Melbourne street remains at large. Source: AAP

A MELBOURNE man allegedly murdered his partner after they'd been in court about a family violence order, a court has heard.

Craig McDermott, 38, is charged with murdering his de facto wife of 18 years, Fiona Joy Warzywoda, in a Sunshine shopping strip on Wednesday.

McDermott, of Sunshine North, briefly appeared in Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Thursday afternoon.

MORE TO COME


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Flight Centre appeals $11m fine

Travel agency Flight Centre has appealed an $11 million fine for anti-competitive behaviour. Source: AAP

TRAVEL agency Flight Centre has appealed an $11 million fine for anti-competitive behaviour.

Federal Court judge John Logan imposed the fine in March after the court ruled in December that Flight Centre had threatened to stop selling flights on several airlines in order to offer the lowest fares.

In a case brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Flight Centre was found to have induced Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Emirates to stop offering international airfares that were lower than fares offered by the travel agency.

The court found Flight Centre had broken the law on five occasions between 2005 and 2009.

Flight Centre lodged an appeal on Thursday, saying the judgment contained "errors and inappropriate extensions" of the law.

"The penalties are manifestly excessive given the circumstances and the lesser penalties handed down in other cases, where the law was knowingly breached and there was a clear impact on the market," Flight Centre statement said.

The appeal is likely to be heard before the end of 2014, the company said.


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