Wellington south coast residents told to evacuate ahead of huge swells

6:08 am today

Ōwhiro Bay, along Wellington's south coast, in 2022.

Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas

The deadline is looming for hundreds of people to evacuate their homes on Wellington's south coast.

Waves could rise to 9 metres on the Wellington south coast and 10.5 metres on the Wairarapa coast, MetService says.

The city's mayor Andrew Little has declared a state of emergency for the southern and eastern wards of the capital after MetService issued a Heavy Swell Warning for Cape Terawhiti to Turakirae Head in Wellington and Turakirae Head to Mataikona in Wairarapa.

A southerly weather system moving up the country is bringing the swells to Cook Strait from Monday night through to Wednesday morning.

A mandatory evacuation order has been issued for waterfront properties, covering about 350 homes from Ōwhiro to Breaker bays - excluding Lyall Bay.

Residents must leave before 9am on Tuesday and have been told to expect extensive road closures.

Wellington City Civil Defence controller Phil Becker said the swell was expected to be larger than one that hit in 2021.

"Back then, water was sloshing against the fronts of houses, and rocks and timber debris ... was cast up on some of those houses as well.

"So, it's just not safe for people to stay."

One Breaker Bay resident told RNZ her home had never been hit in the three decades she'd lived there, but said she expected most people to evacuate.

Raymond Morgan, however, said he was only leaving his Breaker Bay home because he had somewhere to be on Tuesday morning.

"The mayors often say, 'We'd rather be safe than sorry', and that's all well and good, but there's an impact on people's lives when you say, 'You must evacuate'.

"Because people have to go to places - they have pets, they have dependent children and things like that, which is quite disruptive for people's lives."

Morgan said his biggest concern was coastal erosion and didn't expect his house to suffer any damage.

"I might eat my words but I don't think so. I've lived here for 12 years and there's been nothing that's threatened my house."

A resident in Ōwhiro Bay planned to stay put because he has a two-storey house, but said he'd be keeping an eye on swell data from a buoy off the coast of Christchurch.

He said the swell data down south reaches Wellington several hours later.

"If it's a 10m [swell] they're reading I know that can be quite dangerous. I'm thinking I'll be fine but there's other people I'll be quite worried about.

"I'm sure they will move, but I'll be going and seeing them anyway."

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