Storm havoc sweeps across Mangawhai

28 Mar, 2022

With more than 4000 lightning strikes reported by NIWA in lower Northland and Auckland in just one hour, the incredible electrical storm coupled with heavy rain, swept over the North Island on March 20 leaving behind saturated pastures, water-logged roads, barred beaches and close-encounters-of-the-lightening-kind, in its wake.

The foot of the Brynderwyn Ranges was reportedly under water with drivers having to carefully navigate flooded local roads, and power outages left shops operating on a ‘cash only’ basis with Mangawhai Beach School having to close on Monday March 21, due to toilets being out of order. A lightning-caused power cut on the area’s wastewater network also led Kaipara District Council to shutdown Mangawhai’s estuary, placing a temporary ban on swimming and fishing in the local waters.

One local resident, 86-year-old Tara Road farmer Barry Hill, had a direct hit on his property, with a lightning bolt obliterating a birdbox, a favourite nesting site for swallows, nailed to a fence surrounding his home.

"I was in the kitchen at the time and heard a big bang, I wandered round the house to see what it was and found the post and birdbox totally destroyed, been farming all my life and never seen anything like it."

It’s four seasons in one day as a magnificent cloud bank hovers above the district, dumping rain as it goes.



The road leading to and from the Hakaru Bridge along Mangawhai-Kaiwaka Road became a very large puddle for drivers to traverse.

A power cut by lightning caused a wastewater pollution alert in the Mangawhai estuary. The council issued a temporary health warning.


Above: Crossing the Insley Street bridge and causeway was a wet, blustery and wary task for drivers during the storm (pic 5).

– REPORTING/JULIA WADE