Just about the whole of the Manawatu's cellular network remains down, same for power. Quite concerning as some areas are also cut off by debris on the roads. Would be good if the government would have funded generators, or at least extended battery-backups, for all RCG sites given the remoteness and the danger posed thereof.

boosacnoodle:

 

Just about the whole of the Manawatu's cellular network remains down, same for power. Quite concerning as some areas are also cut off by debris on the roads. Would be good if the government would have funded generators, or at least extended battery-backups, for all RCG sites given the remoteness and the danger posed thereof.

 

I seem to recall that when this has been done in the past, said generators and batteries got nicked.

Quite lucky really, didn't lose power or connectivity, did lose 3 panels of the back fence and few other smaller things broken/damaged but nothing too important. An acquaintance of mine is counting themselves lucky after a fairly solid tree missed the cabin they were sleeping in by inches. 

boosacnoodle:

 

Just about the whole of the Manawatu's cellular network remains down, same for power. Quite concerning as some areas are also cut off by debris on the roads. Would be good if the government would have funded generators, or at least extended battery-backups, for all RCG sites given the remoteness and the danger posed thereof.

 

thats terrible good thing they are ditching copper. So many rural communities are on wifi internet as don’t have access to fibre . Copper used to work , there is no decent back up plan now for events . 

What a windy night !

We've lost a couple of mature Kowhai trees and a couple of younger ones here and there.

But - the new roof stayed on and recent weather board repairs seem to have kept the water out so I'll take it as a win.
My kids report their friends have lost fences and what not in our area

Stuff had pictures of flooding in Naenae which looked damaging . Hopefully it was not high enough to get into the local houses.

Stu1:

 

thats terrible good thing they are ditching copper. So many rural communities are on wifi internet as don’t have access to fibre . Copper used to work , there is no decent back up plan now for events . 

 

The back up is satellite, either via shifting from WISPs to Starlink, or having a cell phone that is capable of satellite texting.....

The days of towers round the country for WISPs is going the same way that every small town having a TV tower went 30 years ago....

wellygary:

 

Stu1:

 

thats terrible good thing they are ditching copper. So many rural communities are on wifi internet as don’t have access to fibre . Copper used to work , there is no decent back up plan now for events . 

 

 

The back up is satellite, either via shifting from WISPs to Starlink, or having a cell phone that is capable of satellite texting.....

 

The days of towers round the country for WISPs is going the same way that every small town having a TV tower went 30 years ago....

 

think that’s the plan, its a pain watching tv and it buffers when the microwave is on. Have to stand in one part of the house to get reception yet only 10 mins out of a rural town 

Family in Manawatu have their power back on now but Starlink isn't connecting to the network as yet. Some people nearby reported having 1 light on in the house, but the rest of the lights not working. Same story with garage door opener. Wonder if phase or voltage issue.

We haven't had any issues with power or internet luckily. We are in the middle of the manawatu.

Seems like the Starlink router died (Gen 2, Actuated). Went on the chat bot and described the issue, it confirmed the address then instantly sent me a free replacement unit and courier return label for the damaged. Literally sent two messages and got a whole new free unit. Other than this, family made it out without any major issues (they have a generator). The last time there was a storm this big, their very rural road had its bridge wiped out.

boosacnoodle:

 

Just about the whole of the Manawatu's cellular network remains down, same for power. Quite concerning as some areas are also cut off by debris on the roads. Would be good if the government would have funded generators, or at least extended battery-backups, for all RCG sites given the remoteness and the danger posed thereof.

 

I guess the complicating factor is that many of these RCG sites are backhaueld by microwave to other non-RCG sites, fibre fed to a local telco facility, etc. No point putting in extended power backup to RCG sites if the other infrastructure they depend on doesn't have the same level of backup. Also RCG sites are meant to be low cost to enable as much coverage as possible -- once you start adding more costs it risks cutting down the overall number of sites that can be built with $x amount of money. Lots of trade-offs invovled.

Indeed. Some Wellingtonian's are going on three days without power. Quite a few areas are without mobile service, too. Thoughts are with those whose homes and businesses flooded, too. Can't imagine just how hard that must be!