Katikati experienced a wild weekend of unprecedented high wind, which left roofs and fences damaged, fallen trees and cancelled events in its wake.

Katikati Volunteer Fire Brigade deputy chief fire officer Craig Gray said his station’s firefighters yesterday attended 29 callouts in 14 hours, from 3.30am to 5pm.

A Katikati house nearly lost its roof.

“There is a lot of damaged roofs [from the wind] in Katikati at the moment,” said Gray.

“It was an iron roof, and about 90% of it was lost. The house was facing northwest and over the estuary – so it had taken the full brunt of the wind.

“A lot of damage was roof tiles lifting, iron roofs lifting, sheds and fences blowing down and fallen trees.”

Unsecured trampolines were also sent flying – one landed in the estuary’s mangroves.

“We had about four trampolines – because they hadn’t been secured – one had blown approximately four houses down the road,” said Gray.

“The message we want to get out is that if you have trampolines and you know it’s going to be bad weather – please tie them down.”

Gray said equinox winds tend to get strong in Katikati during September but the brigade hadn’t experienced this many callouts in a short period in quite some time.

“We had two trucks and our van out for the whole period; we were pretty busy. Unfortunately, we don’t have a magic wand – every job we go to we have to do a Dynamic Risk Assessment.

“Basically, that means [we have to judge] the likelihood of it happening over the consequence of it happening – that’s how we work out whether it’s safe to get on someone’s roof or not.

“In many cases over the weekend it was concrete tiles being blown off. The public need to know, if it’s safe enough for us to get on the roof – and no, it’s not.”

Police had to stop traffic while Katikati Volunteer Fire Brigade cut down a fallen tree on Katikati College grounds on Beach Rd at 10am on Saturday. Photo / Merle Cave

Gray said putting a tarpaulin over a wind damaged roof is not effective – it will get blown off again.

“We don’t carry spare tarpaulins or kilometres of rope either. All we do is try to make the scene as safe as possible, make the homeowners and neighbours aware and move on to the next job. That’s really all we can do.”

Gray said today trees can be seen down from Ōmokoroa through to Waihī.

“On State Highway 2 heading towards Athenree there’s windbreaks and great big 150mm posts are snapped off like toothpicks.”

He advised shop owners to ensure all signage is secure and flags are pulled in when wind is forecast.

“We did have signage on one shop that had to be taken down.”

Winds started to pick up in Katikati on Friday evening.

Katikati 150th Anniversary Committee chair John Clements said by 7.30am Saturday a call was made to pull down the erected marquee roofs over the new Town Square due to wind.

“It had all buckled and poles were bent and the wind was lifting the whole tent up – it was too dangerous.”

The brigade was called to a fallen tree on college grounds on Beach Rd about 10am on Saturday, which cut traffic to one lane.

“We cut it down. One, we took all the branches off the trunk so kids couldn’t climb on it and get injured; and two, we cut it right back to the school fence so people could still use the footpath,” said Gray.

Katikati College principal Louise Buckley confirmed a silver birch tree had tumbled, and the school will replant something.

As for college buildings, there was minor damage to guttering and some boundary fences, said Buckley.

“We’d like to acknowledge our property team for their additional work over the weekend in securing our school grounds. They went above and beyond.”

Police had to stop traffic while Katikati Volunteer Fire Brigade cut down a fallen tree on Katikati College grounds on Saturday. Photo / Merle Cave

Clements said a planned Saturday official opening of the new 60m2 jetty at the Uretara Landing on Beach Rd – part of the 150th Ulster arrival events – had to be postponed.

“The opening was to take place 11am with iwi, kapa haka, a tree planting, a few boats sailing up the river, and an unveiling of a plaque by the community board. This was called off due to the wind.”

The 150th morning market shifted indoors into Pātuki Manawa Digital Hub; and Katikati Concert Band’s afternoon entertainment was cancelled, said Clements.

From 11.30am on Saturday, police asked motorists to avoid State Highway 2 at Whakamārama as the SH2-Pahoia Rd intersection was blocked by fallen power poles and trees. No injuries were reported but traffic experienced major delays.

Today, field crews were working to restore power across the North Island, including the Katikati district, after thousands were left in the dark.

Powerco said at 6am Monday, 1695 Powerco customers in the North Island were without supply, with most in the Western Bay of Plenty.

MetService meteorologist Ngaire Wotherspoon said her organisation’s highest recorded wind speeds at Minden were 101.9km/h for Saturday and 133.3km/h for Sunday.

“Those winds were northwest – so they’ve come down from the [Kaimai] ranges, so you were probably getting strong localised gusts with terrain enhancement from the ranges.

“The 130km/h mark is getting up into our proper severe gale area.”

Wotherspoon said Katikati doesn’t usually get strong northwesterly gusts “so it’s an unusual direction which makes it feel stronger”.

In comparison to Minden, Waihī recorded maximum speeds of 96.3km/h Saturday and 107.4km/h Sunday, said Wotherspoon. Tauranga Airport recorded 77.8km/h Saturday, and 70.4km/h Sunday.

Gray said the big learning curve from the weekend was to tie backyard items down.

“If they [weather forecasters] say it’s going to be a big weather event make sure things are secure – and hunker down.

“I think we can probably expect some more winds like this as the weather system in the world is changing.”