Tropical Cyclone Tam: What you need to know

The severe storm barrelling towards the upper North Island has been upgraded to a tropical cyclone.

The Fiji Meteorological Service has named the storm “Tropical Cyclone Tam”, and while its centre is expected to remain west of Cape Reinga, forecasters are still warning of severe wind and rain over the next 24 hours.

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Sound Engineer: Richard Martin
Producer: Ethan Sills

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Cielder.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is a bonus episode of
The Front Page, a daily podcast presented by The New
Zealand Herald. The severe storm barreling towards the Upper North
Island has been upgraded to a tropical cyclone, but not
for long. It's been named tropical Cyclone tam And. While

(00:27):
its center is expected to remain west of capeery Younga,
forecasters are still warning of severe wind and rain over
the next twenty four hours.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
With regards to rainfall a mount in Northland, we're expecting
rainfall amounts of about one hundred to one hundred and
fifty millimeters of rain on top of what has already
fallen and that goes until Thursday night. Regarding the wind
speed in that same region, we could see speed in
the region of about one hundred and twenty to about

(00:58):
one hundred and forty that's is pur and for notton.
That is very very strong winds, especially from that wind direction. Again,
the exact numbers of the rainfall and the wind will
really see impactful once they start acting together.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
For what you need to know about this storm, we're
joined now on the Front Page by NSID Herald reporter
Rachel Mayer. So, Rachel, what's the latest on the weather
warnings for this cyclone.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
Yeah, Mittservice have just released a whole bunch of new ones,
so this is all coming from tropical cyclone. Tam MIT
Service expects it to be done growded to a storm
later this evening, but that doesn't mean it wants. You'll
pack a punch. So we've got one hundred and twenty
kilometer winds expected in Auckland and Northland. For context, the
Auckland have a bread shuts down when there's ninety kilometer winds,

(01:50):
so that's quite big. Two hundred and fifty millimeters of
rain expected in Coloramandel tomorrow. That's over twenty four hours,
so that's a lot. Already, we have hundreds of in
Northland without power, several road closures in the far North
due to slips and trees down. We also have a
major highway down South closed Stack Highway five due to
a slip. Officials right now are saying just be safe,

(02:13):
drive for the conditions, clear your gutters and only travel
if absolutely necessary. If you're in the Northland, Auckland Corimandal
regions at the moment.

Speaker 4 (02:24):
It's a good time to check what emergency reading the
supplies you may have because if the power goes, Yeah,
you know, have you got a torch in a radio
just to be able to listener on things.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
In terms of travel warnings or the need to prepare homes.
I know you mentioned the gutters, but also it's probably
good to have like a go bag ready just in
case you're evacuated. Hey.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Yeah, several defense have come out, especially in northern Auckland.
Those areas have been hit by wild where over the
last few years were seen major flooding due to Cyclon Gabrielle,
the Auckland Anniversary floods. So a lot of people in
those areas will know to do now, have that go
bag ready, strap down your trampoline, strap down your outdoor furniture,
clear your gutters and be prepared.

Speaker 4 (03:08):
It is going to be quite messy, windy and wet,
so allow that a little bit of extra time for travel,
or perhaps delay travel a little bit because we know
that the wind is going to start improving on Friday.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
So in terms of timings, when should we likely see
the worst of this storm.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
Yeah, So at around ten am on Wednesday, the troupical
cyclone tam was sitting around four hundred and fifty kilometers
west of New Caledonia at that point, met Service is
saying it's traveling at a speed of around thirty five
kilometers an hour south towards New Zealand. It's expected to
be for us to start feeling the worst of the
impacts at around seven pm, where it's going to be

(03:46):
setting a few hundred kilometers west of New Zealand. Now,
as I've said, Mitservice is not only downgrading this to
a storm, but in fact it's not only meant to
be hitting New Zealand, but it absolutely should not be
counted out. We're still going to have major effects from
the storm. It will pack a punch. People should still
be prepared and not counted out just because of that.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Thanks for joining us, Rachel.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
That's it for this episode of The Front Page. You
can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
at enziherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is
produced by Ethan Sills and Richard Martin, who is also
our sound engineer. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to the Front
Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts and

(04:36):
tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.