State of emergency declared

KEY POINTS:

• Cyclone Gita is barrelling towards NZ and is due to make landfall this afternoon
• The Category 2 tropical cyclone is expected to unleash flooding, winds up to 140km/h and waves up to 7m
• Heavy rain and/or strong wind warnings are in place for most of central New Zealand including Wellington, Whanganui, Taranaki, Nelson, Buller, Marlborough (including Kaikoura Coast), Westland and the Canterbury high country
• Flights and trains have been cancelled, and SH1, north and south of Kaikoura, is closed
• When the worst will hit in Christchurch, Nelson and West Coast

Cyclone Gita is poised to split in two when it hits the South Island later today.

The former tropical cyclone may be divided by the Southern Alps – sending the main storm over Banks Peninsula and a second, smaller storm towards the West Coast, the MetService says.

The split would not materially impact on the spread or strength of the storm, meteorologist Ciaran Doolin said.

Air New Zealand has cancelled all flights in and of Wellington and four other centres as Cyclone Gita starts packing a punch with heavy winds and rain.

The airline has cancelled all Capital services from 2.45pm today through until midnight as well as those to and from Hokitika, Nelson (from 12pm), New Plymouth (from 11am) and Queenstown.

More than 57 schools and kindergartens are closed and State Highway 1 is shut north and south of Kaikoura because of heavy rain as Gita starts to make its presence known.

Gita is expected to make landfall across the country this afternoon and with it, forecasters predict powerful swells of up to 10m, rapidly rising streams and rivers, flooding and winds of up to 150km/h.

Authorities in the Marlborough Sounds have told campers to abandon their positions to be safe, and schools in the Buller region are closed. West Coast leaders will decide this morning whether to declare a state of emergency.

The remnants of the storm that battered Samoa, Tonga and southern Fiji is scheduled to arrive in New Zealand in the next 12 hours.

NZ Herald.