Grave sites in a Wellington cemetery have been left crushed by fallen trees, after a wild storm rocked the lower North Island in recent days.
By Sammy Carter of RNZ
Meanwhile, a Tawa family fear being badly out of pocket to fix a retaining wall that was damaged by a slip that started on their property.
Wild weather in the Wellington Region and Wairarapa saw trees, slips, and debris, with winds of up to 150 kph.
The storm left thousands of properties without power.
Wellington Electricity said it was on track to restore power to all those affected by the end of Monday.
Crews were focused on about 59 properties without power in Porirua and Wellington's northern suburbs.
The chairperson of volunteer group Friends of Karori Cemetery, Kieran William, said pine and gum trees damaged historic graves.
A marble cross was crushed, which sat on top of one of the earliest graves in the cemetery.
The group hoped the council would do more proactive tree management for the old trees, noting the importance of the grave sites.
"All the graves talk about an early settler or people in Wellington's early history that all have a story."
The volunteer group offer popular tours of the cemetery, which shares different graves' history.
A Wellington City Council spokesperson said it was focusing on removing the fallen trees and cleaning up the site before it looked at whether other trees would possibly warrant removal.
Slip on Tawa property 'pretty horrific'
Tawa resident Karen Tui Boyes was left with a deep slip in her backyard just six metres away from the house.
"Someone upstairs heard the cracking through the rain, and then we went outside and went 'uh oh'."
The slip took out a section of a what she believes is a council owned retaining wall, and it she feared it could cost a lot of money to fix.
Boyes said she had lodged a claim with the Natural Hazards Commission, as well as her insurance, and now it was a waiting game.
She was grateful the slip did not fall onto anyone else's land, as it was a council reserve beyond the fence.
Her hilltop property was exposed to the elements, and Saturday's weather was "pretty horrific".
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