Tara Ward pays tribute to the people who bring us the weather by experiencing the weather.
As much of the country experienced a range of terrible weather conditions this week, one small group of New Zealanders went above and beyond to keep us informed. Through flooding, snow and heavy rain, the nation’s news reporters put on their raincoats and walked directly into the storm. They braved the wind and rain to tell us about the wind and rain, risking their own safety and comfort just so they could show Tara in Dunedin how gusty it really was in Wellington. Today, we salute their courage and honour their bravery. Most of all, we thank them for standing in the pissing rain to show us how wet it is, live on national television.
Breakfast
“Bit gusty going over the bridge this morning,” Breakfast presenter Melissa Stokes announced at six o’clock, as the early morning current affairs show prepared to bring us the latest on the storm. Conditions in the studio were warm and cozy, but somewhere in Christchurch, reporter Charlotte Mulder stood outside in the dark, her notebook protected inside a plastic bag and her jacket already sodden.
“As you can see, it’s torrential rain here in Christchurch,” Mulder said. A state of emergency had been announced for Selwyn District and Christchurch had already received 100mm of rain, most of which appeared to be falling on this poor reporter. Later, the noise of the storm forced Mulder to shout into her microphone. “Stay inside if you can,” Stokes advised.
In Auckland, reporter Lucy Blundell stood in front of some flax bushes and talked about the wind, but it was Wellington’s James Fleury who was about to find out how bad the weather really was. He first crossed live from a gloomy Lambton Quay and gave us an update from a Cook Strait ferry passenger, whose bumpy voyage involved “lots of vomiting on board”. “Thank you for the fulsome update, James,” Stokes replied.
By seven o’clock, Fleury was really taking one for the team. He was now at Ōwhiro Bay, where winds were gusting to 113km/h and huge waves crashed onto the beach behind him. “No chance of a good hair day today!” Fleury shouted, and though he wobbled perilously through every ferocious gust, nothing could deter him from ratting off an impressive range of statistics about the record-breaking wind speeds at the airport, in the hills, probably on the moon. “It’s extremely windy here in Wellington,” he added.
By 8.06am, even Breakfast was worried about Fleury’s wellbeing. “I’m doing OK,” he assured the nation, as he reported live from a 45 degree angle. Our hero bent his knees and anchored himself to the ground as sea spray covered the camera lens, both hands gripped tightly around his microphone. At 8.33am, a Qantas flight managed to take off from Wellington airport, and it seemed like Fleury wouldn’t be far behind. “It’s really starting to pick up now,” he yelled.
1News
By 6pm, the worst of the weather was hitting, and 1News gave us an update on the snow, wind and wild conditions around the country. Donna-Marie Lever reported from a wet Rolleston Road, but again, it was a Wellington reporter who dared to look danger in the eye, live on the telly. Abbey Wakefield was the wind beneath the nation’s wings as she stood on the capital city’s south coast, confirming that it was still really, really windy.
“What can Wellingtonians expect tonight?” Simon Dallow asked, as the wind whipped Wakefield’s hair in every direction and a road sign behind her looked ready to lift into the sky, despite the many sandbags weighing it down. The camera shook as Wakefield struggled to stay upright. “The advice from officials is to hunker down,” she said, stumbling as a particularly strong gust pushed her forward. “Great stuff! Hold on to something tight,” Dallow suggested.
ThreeNews
“Have the winds subsided?” ThreeNews’ Laura Tupou asked Stuff journalist Glenn McConnell, who was also standing outside in the middle of a storm, somewhere in Wellington’s Lyall Bay. It was fair to say that no, the winds had not subsided, and the lights had just gone out too.
Also, I don’t know who this intrepid reporter was in the first story of the news bulletin, but hats off to him for some timely use of hi-vis wet weather gear.
Stuff
It’s not often (never) you get a Slow TV edition of a dangerous weather event, so kudos to Stuff for giving us what we didn’t know we needed. This morning I clicked onto their live weather updates and stumbled into a livestream of a woman standing knee-deep in the swollen Avon river. She was either a Christchurch Stuff reporter or an enthusiastic lady who just happened to be passing by, but either way, she reckoned the ducks and local pūkeko were enjoying the conditions.
“Stay tuned,” this mysterious figure said, moments before she disappeared from the livestream forever. Then Stuff took us for a slow, peaceful walk along the riverbank. Birds chirped in the trees, dogs barked in the distance, and ducks paddled quietly upstream. It was so peaceful, I couldn’t look away. I watched nine minutes of this idyllic riverside walk until the livestream ended abruptly at 10.08am. My heart remains on that bridge across the Avon, somewhere in rainy Christchurch.
