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Guardian
Ashburton FIRST PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 27, 1879
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Thursday, July 4, 2013
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Winds take out power By Sue Newman Generators kept several of Ashburton’s larger businesses trading yesterday morning while the rest of the town sat in darkness. As gusty nor’west winds battered the Ashburton District, power was cut to a large part of Ashburton, stretching from Cameron Street in the east, including the Allenton area. to rural areas of Longbeach and Carew to the west. The 45 minute power out occurred just after 11am and had EA Networks staff scrambling to find the cause. The problem occurred on a feeder line between the Wakanui Road substation and the Kermode Street substation
after a strong wind gust arced a power line across a guy wire holding a power pole, tripping a circuit. While the problem had been given a temporary fix, Mr Guthrie said structural issues around that part of the Wakanui substation would be rectified so a similar event would not occur again. “We’ll change some of the structural works. It’s a unique configuration with multiple circuits at that point of supply but we will be changing the design so we can make sure the same situation won’t happen again.” New World and Mitre 10 simply switched over to generator power but for smaller stores the outage meant they became cash only businesses – if they could still
trade. It was like stepping back a century for many businesses for some as candles came out, coins were exchanged and builders exchanged their power tools for hammers and handsaws. Without light in the Ashburton Arcade many staff were left huddling in the dark, and shoppers navigated their way through the arcade by the light of their cellphones. At Everyprint, Scott Tudor and Anna Besty took armloads of work outside the shop and Mr Tudor said they could have kept busy for hours. “It’s a good chance to catch up on a lot of this work, actually. Most of our work is on the computers, but we’re not planning to sit back and do nothing.”
It was a similar story at Ashburton Flowers and Balloons, where the staff kept working by the dim light of candles. Owner Denise Hyde said deadlines still had to be met. “It does make it interesting, but birthdays and celebrations aren’t going to stop.” Wind gusts peaked at 74 kilometres an hour in Ashburton at about 11.30am. Several power poles were brought down by falling trees in a handful of places in rural areas, cutting supply to small numbers of consumers, but by late afternoon power had been restored. The Ruapuna district was probably the hardest hit by the wind gusts. On Steve and Penny King’s farm
power was cut at 7am after wind gusts flattened trees around their homestead and wiped out most of a plantation. Trees from the plantation, bordering State Highway 72 also brought down power lines, closing the highway for several hours. Power was restored late in the afternoon. Down the road Andrew Peck was counting the cost of the wind storm in two lost irrigators. “A couple of our pivots tipped over. They’re upside down, wheels in the air. Insurance told us it’s the first time they’ve seen total machines go over like this,” Mr Peck said. The two pivots were 960 metres and 520 metres in length and were likely to be written off, he said.
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Maxwell sees off challenge to her leadership By Michelle Nelson Mid Canterbury sheep and beef farmer Federated Farmers’ national Meat and Fibre section chair Jeanette Maxwell has put down a leadership challenge. Two years into a three-year term, the matter of leadership was put to the vote at the federation’s national conference, which opened in Ashburton yesterday morning. The challenge came from Ruapehu provincial president and Meat and Fibre executive member, Lyn Neeson. Mrs Maxwell was appointed to the board in 2011 after a successful stint as Mid Canterbury meat and fibre chairperson, becoming the first woman to hold the position. Yesterday, she joined with other experts to address “something rotten” in the state of the country’s red meat industry. “Frankly, I’d rather be damned for doing. So I am going to outline my manifesto that will be added to by others on the trade, industry and Meat Industry Excellence fronts,” she said. Included on her lengthy shopping list for change were long term sustainable returns, better working relationships within the supply chain, improved commitment from all parties involved, unity, consolidation, greater communication and under-
standing, a sustainable culture, a sustainable industry, a different model, less bricks and mortar, more offshore opportunities, owning processing off shore and greater relationships within the Pacific, Asia and Australia. “There are many options as to what might be the right fit for our red meat industry. So we need to identify the prize the size of the prize and how we are going to get there,” she said.. “This is a journey that we all need to participate in; not just for some. Some organisations can and will play a greater role than others, while some will be able to offer support and expertise. The main thing is that all the group’s work together to achieve the prize.” Reflecting on Federated Farmers 2008 T150 plan – targeting $150 for a mid-season lamb within five years, Mrs Maxwell acknowledged it had missed the mark by a wide margin. “This in itself is not a bad thing because a behavioural issue with farmers is that we tend to overlook the need for change when things look up. T150 helped to remind us where we need to be and the timescale we have missed,” she said. “Change is needed everywhere in our industry – from on-farm behaviour throughout the supply chain and into our market places.”
Photo Kirsty Graham 030713-008
The impact of huge nor’westerly gales on the Ashburton District yesterday cut power to much of Ashburton for 45 minutes late morning and felled several power poles in rural areas.
High winds hammer Mt Hutt Ski Area By Susan Sandys Nor’west gales gusting at almost 240 kilometres per hour buffeted Mt Hutt Ski Area yesterday, breaking windows and pushing in a wall. The latest damage comes on top of that caused by avalanches after a massive 2.8 metre snowfall from June 19 to 22. The high winds resulted in the
ski area’s eighth closed day this season yesterday, just two-anda-half weeks after opening. Ski area manager James McKenzie said it had been hoped to get the ski area open for the day around midday yesterday, but winds had not dropped by then. The wind speed at the summit was measured by Mt Hutt’s weather station at an average speed of 150 kilometres per hour,
the strongest gust 238.9 kilometres. The average wind speed in the basin was 70 kilometres per hour, gusting up to 170 kilometres per hour. A new weather station had been installed on the ski area in 2010, and the 238.9 kilometre per hour gust had been the strongest it had recorded. The previous strongest was 230 kilometres per hour in January.
Previous weather equipment on the mountain did not register gust measurements over speeds of 206 kilometres per hour. “It’s certainly a pretty big wind,” Mr McKenzie said. It had broken some windows and pushed a wall in in a staff area of the day lodge. It had also blown away pads around snowmaking guns. “We will probably find them a little later at the bottom of
the triple somewhere, in amongst debris from the avalanche,” Mr McKenzie said. “Mother Nature is really pulling out all the punches this season.” The ski area’s base had gone from a wintery powdery surface to a slightly springy surface, but other than that had not been affected by the wind. Nor’wests were forecast to hit the ski area again at the weekend, and could bring some snow.
Photo Tetsuro Mitomo 030713-tm-065
Federated Farmers’ Meat and Fibre section chair Jeanette Maxwell at yesterday’s national conference in Ashburton.
Today’s weather
HIGH LOW
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