Speaker 1: Cielder.
Speaker 2: I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is a bonus episode of
Speaker 2: The Front Page, a daily podcast presented by The New
Speaker 2: Zealand Herald. The severe storm barreling towards the Upper North
Speaker 2: Island has been upgraded to a tropical cyclone, but not
Speaker 2: for long. It's been named tropical Cyclone tam And. While
Speaker 2: its center is expected to remain west of capeery Younga,
Speaker 2: forecasters are still warning of severe wind and rain over
Speaker 2: the next twenty four hours.
Speaker 1: With regards to rainfall a mount in Northland, we're expecting
Speaker 1: rainfall amounts of about one hundred to one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty millimeters of rain on top of what has already
Speaker 1: fallen and that goes until Thursday night. Regarding the wind
Speaker 1: speed in that same region, we could see speed in
Speaker 1: the region of about one hundred and twenty to about
Speaker 1: one hundred and forty that's is pur and for notton.
Speaker 1: That is very very strong winds, especially from that wind direction. Again,
Speaker 1: the exact numbers of the rainfall and the wind will
Speaker 1: really see impactful once they start acting together.
Speaker 2: For what you need to know about this storm, we're
Speaker 2: joined now on the Front Page by NSID Herald reporter
Speaker 2: Rachel Mayer. So, Rachel, what's the latest on the weather
Speaker 2: warnings for this cyclone.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Mittservice have just released a whole bunch of new ones,
Speaker 3: so this is all coming from tropical cyclone. Tam MIT
Speaker 3: Service expects it to be done growded to a storm
Speaker 3: later this evening, but that doesn't mean it wants. You'll
Speaker 3: pack a punch. So we've got one hundred and twenty
Speaker 3: kilometer winds expected in Auckland and Northland. For context, the
Speaker 3: Auckland have a bread shuts down when there's ninety kilometer winds,
Speaker 3: so that's quite big. Two hundred and fifty millimeters of
Speaker 3: rain expected in Coloramandel tomorrow. That's over twenty four hours,
Speaker 3: so that's a lot. Already, we have hundreds of in
Speaker 3: Northland without power, several road closures in the far North
Speaker 3: due to slips and trees down. We also have a
Speaker 3: major highway down South closed Stack Highway five due to
Speaker 3: a slip. Officials right now are saying just be safe,
Speaker 3: drive for the conditions, clear your gutters and only travel
Speaker 3: if absolutely necessary. If you're in the Northland, Auckland Corimandal
Speaker 3: regions at the moment.
Speaker 4: It's a good time to check what emergency reading the
Speaker 4: supplies you may have because if the power goes, Yeah,
Speaker 4: you know, have you got a torch in a radio
Speaker 4: just to be able to listener on things.
Speaker 2: In terms of travel warnings or the need to prepare homes.
Speaker 2: I know you mentioned the gutters, but also it's probably
Speaker 2: good to have like a go bag ready just in
Speaker 2: case you're evacuated. Hey.
Speaker 3: Yeah, several defense have come out, especially in northern Auckland.
Speaker 3: Those areas have been hit by wild where over the
Speaker 3: last few years were seen major flooding due to Cyclon Gabrielle,
Speaker 3: the Auckland Anniversary floods. So a lot of people in
Speaker 3: those areas will know to do now, have that go
Speaker 3: bag ready, strap down your trampoline, strap down your outdoor furniture,
Speaker 3: clear your gutters and be prepared.
Speaker 4: It is going to be quite messy, windy and wet,
Speaker 4: so allow that a little bit of extra time for travel,
Speaker 4: or perhaps delay travel a little bit because we know
Speaker 4: that the wind is going to start improving on Friday.
Speaker 2: So in terms of timings, when should we likely see
Speaker 2: the worst of this storm.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So at around ten am on Wednesday, the troupical
Speaker 3: cyclone tam was sitting around four hundred and fifty kilometers
Speaker 3: west of New Caledonia at that point, met Service is
Speaker 3: saying it's traveling at a speed of around thirty five
Speaker 3: kilometers an hour south towards New Zealand. It's expected to
Speaker 3: be for us to start feeling the worst of the
Speaker 3: impacts at around seven pm, where it's going to be
Speaker 3: setting a few hundred kilometers west of New Zealand. Now,
Speaker 3: as I've said, Mitservice is not only downgrading this to
Speaker 3: a storm, but in fact it's not only meant to
Speaker 3: be hitting New Zealand, but it absolutely should not be
Speaker 3: counted out. We're still going to have major effects from
Speaker 3: the storm. It will pack a punch. People should still
Speaker 3: be prepared and not counted out just because of that.
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us, Rachel.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: That's it for this episode of The Front Page. You
Speaker 2: can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
Speaker 2: at enziherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is
Speaker 2: produced by Ethan Sills and Richard Martin, who is also
Speaker 2: our sound engineer. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to the Front
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Speaker 2: tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.