West Coast authorities will decide this evening about declaring states of emergency as the second former tropical cyclone in three weeks bears down on the region. Ex-tropical Cyclone Gita is forecast to strike the west coast of the country from tomorrow afternoon, bringing wind gusts of over 150km/h in places, heavy rain and northwest swells of 8 to 9 metres. West Coast mayors and officials will meet Civil Defence staff at 5pm in Greymouth to discuss the latest weather predictions and necessary actions. "The gusts then ripped roofs off houses, and the gusts with Gita are predicted to be similar and hang around for 36 hours," Kokshoorn said. We are also not expecting the storm surges to be as bad as with Fehi either."

Source: Otago Daily Times February 18, 2018 19:30 UTC