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Earthquake update: What you need to know

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff ,
Publish Date
Wed, 16 Nov 2016, 5:25AM
Aftershocks are continuing as the recovery from Monday morning's series of earthquakes begins (Supplied)

Earthquake update: What you need to know

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff ,
Publish Date
Wed, 16 Nov 2016, 5:25AM

UPDATED 6.16pm: Another slow trip home for Wellington's commuters.

Two northbound lanes and one southbound lane are open on State Highway 1.

But there's a temporary speed restriction of 50 kilometres an hour in some places.

State Highway 2 is down to just one lane just north of the Ngauranga interchange.

State Highway 58 between Paremata and Postgate Drive will be fully closed from 7pm tonight through to 5.30 tomorrow morning so flood clean-ups can continue.

Takarau Gorge Rd, between Johnsonville and Makara Beach, was closed by a number of slips.

A slip had blocked South Makara Rd south of the golf course and the road was likely to be closed for up to a week and a section of Shelly Bay Rd south of the old Air Force base.

It was expected take a few days to clear but the road was open on either side of the slip.

It's still a precarious situation near Parliament with a large office block still threatening to topple.

Molesworth Street is still closed this morning, with cordons and security staff still in place.

Meanwhile there were serious concerns about another building in Wellington early this morning but that's turned out to be a false alarm.

40 Taranaki Street was cordoned off just after 2am and firefighters raced to the scene.

Fire Service shift manager Jan Wills said someone from Calendar Girls reported creaking and hearing loud cracks. 

ROADS

Road access into Kaikoura is now open although it's limited.

The inland route has been opened this afternoon by the Hurunui District Council and road maintenance contractor Sicon.

However, it will only allow military-grade 4WD vehicles to deliver water and essential supplies through to Kaikoura.

NZTA says the road is still high risk and is not open to private vehicles but everything is being done to open this road for public access by the weekend.

MORE: Govt confident it has cash for SH1 repairs

State Highway 1 between Cheviot and Seddon - CLOSED due to earthquake damage.

State Highway 6 Rai Valley to Renwick - OPEN

State Highway 7 between Waipara to Springs Junction - OPEN (Lewis Pass) down to one lane in places.

UPDATED: State Highway 7A between Tekoa Range and Hanmer Springs - OPEN - all restrictions now lifted.

State Highway 73 between Christchurch and the West Coast open (some cracking in road and temporary speed limits in places.)

Picton, Blenheim, and Nelson are all accessible from the south via State Highway 7 (Lewis Pass) but please note if travelling to Picton or Blenheim this will add about 90-120 minutes extra.

Those travelling to Nelson should allow for up to 30min delays due to increased traffic.

Anastasia Hedge: North Canterbury roads remain difficult

KAIKOURA

Cell-phones, land-lines and broadband should soon be back-up and running in Kaikoura.

Spark, Vodafone and Chorus are working to get the services restored today, or possibly by early tomorrow morning.

Residents in Waiau will have to wait a little longer, with the fibre cable serving the town buried under an 800 metre landslide.

Defence force personnel are organising some of the approximately 600 people hoping to make it out today, including prioritising who needs to be evacuated first.

HMNZS Canterbury is off the coast, after heading there from Auckland.

Crews from HMNZS Wellington are making sure the water is safe for it to sail into.

Many of the people in Kaikoura have suitcases in anticipation of getting out.

Since Monday about 200 people a day have been evacuated by helicopter.

MORE: Water system the priority for Kaikoura recovery

 

HURUNUI

Civil Defence says residents in the Hurunui district need to boil all water beofre drinking.
Supplies have been delivered to Waiau.

Waiau Bridge is open and accessible from both directions.

There's extensive damage at Mt Lyford, but everyone is accounted for.

Door knocking is happening in Mt Lyford to assess residents’ welfare needs.

There was damage to hotels in the district and several houses in Parnassus have suffered from earthquake damage.

Waiau and Rotherham appear to be the most affected farming areas.

Farmers should go to the Environment Canterbury website for information about stock drinking water access and milk disposal.

671 homes in Hurunui district are still without power.

MARLBOROUGH

Building inspection teams will be out in full force around Marlborough this morning to get a clearer picture of the damage in the region.

Initial assessments show there's some serious damage to a number of properties.

In Ward, about 20 kilometres south of Seddon, inspectors reported some homes had slipped from their foundations.

Full assessment of properties south of Ward will start taking place this morning.

In Seddon, three houses require minor repairs and five more have been yellow stickered.

There are still 50 electrical faults and broken power poles around the region, but repair crews are struggling to reach them.

The region's six dams have been inspected and while none are threatening to burst they all need minor repairs.

AFTERSHOCKS

Geonet said there have been 278 aftershocks since six o'clock last night, which makes almost 1500 since the big jolt.

MORE: Aftershocks continue to rock upper South Island

PAUA 

It's not as bad as first thought, but thousands of paua will still be lost after being exposed by Monday's earthquake.

The 7.5 magnitude quake raised the seabed around Kaikoura by about two metres, lifting tens of thousands of the shellfish out of the water.

A helicopter was sent out last night to see how big of a blow this would be to the industry.

Paua Industry Council Chairman Storm Stanley said they'll survive this setback.

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