Extraordinary footage has emerged of a very crooked passenger plane landing in Christchurch yesterday.
It happened as gale-force winds blasted the country, reaching more than 120 km/h across both Otago and Canterbury. South-westerly gales hit 140 km/h in Dunedin, while the biggest gust of 172 km/h was recorded at Cape Turnagain.
Tanuj Uppal, a passenger onboard the giant Emirates A380 flying from Sydney, filmed the in-flight footage of the landing, saying it "gave him shivers".
"Ten minutes before the end of the flight, the plane started going up and down quite a bit. Considering how big of a plane it is, I really wasn't expecting it."
Uppal said his wife was holding onto him when the plane started jolting up and down.
Locals in Waitaki District down south have started to clean up, Kate Nicol-Williams reports. (Source: 1News)
"It felt like we were getting pushed out of our chairs when the plane was moving up and down."
He said there were things flying about the cabin and it was a "relief" when they landed.
"When I saw the angle the plan was landing at, I just hoped we had an experienced pilot, but he or she did an exceptional job," Uppal added.
Air New Zealand this morning said it will take about a day or two to clear a backlog of customers from 93 flights cancelled because of the strong winds.
Yesterday, a campervan was caught on camera as it toppled over on a Canterbury highway in strong winds.
Philip Kennett travels SH80 regularly and said it was the worst gales he has experienced in a long time. source supplied (Source: Supplied)
The accident happened on a section of State Highway 80 between Lake Pukaki and Aoraki around 1.50pm.
Philip Kennett, who filmed the accident, travels SH80 regularly and said it was the worst gales he has experienced in a long time.
"I was following along behind the campervan and it started to tip over," the rural and commercial communications worker told 1News.
"There was a family of five in it, with a couple of kids, everyone was shaken up but only their father was injured with a cut on his hand that was bleeding," Kennett said.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand told 1News they received 191 weather related callouts between 9am yesterday and 1pm today.
They said 158 callouts were for the South Island and 33 were for the North Island.
" These included incidents involving trees blown over railway lines, roof tops lifting, trampolines blowing into houses, and power lines falling on to the road."
MetService today said southwest gales over the South Island and lower North Island had eased and all watches and warnings have been lifted.
SHARE ME