“We were very well-prepared compared with January, where it caught lots of us by surprise.”The key message now was to treat every weather event with the utmost respect and still take it seriously, not to treat the alerts like crying wolf, Thompson said. Mōkau Marae co-ordinator Taunaha Brown said it was best to be warned of the dangers and if severe weather damage did not happen, it was because prayers were answered. Whangārei residents praise warningsIn other parts of Whangārei, residents were happy with the early warnings about the severe weather, even though it was not as bad as expected. She had seen several severe weather events in the five years she had lived in Tikipunga. In a post on social media, the organisation also reiterated the importance of treating weather warnings seriously.

Source: New Zealand Herald April 12, 2026 17:05 UTC