Wild weekend weather continued to cause havoc today with part of State Highway 10 in the Far North collapsing under the weight of a major landslide.
Police were alerted to the slip when a truck nearly rolled off the road about 6am, Senior Sergeant Shane Mulcahy of northern police communications told NZPA.
The highway was now closed and roading authorities were making their way to the scene.
Drivers in Otago and South Canterbury were being warned to take care this morning as black ice made travelling treacherous.
Snow and ice also closed SH1 at the Desert Road.
The severe weather claimed the life of 15-year-old Danielle Anne Finlayson, who was killed early yesterday morning when a tree fell on a caravan she was sleeping in, at her home in Whangapara, 23km northwest of Whangarei.
Authorities who rushed to the scene said the incident could have resulted in a triple fatality.
Danielle was with two friends when the incident happened at 12.50am.
Veteran volunteer fire brigade chief Snow Buckton told The New Zealand Herald it appeared a branch from a large puriri tree crashed into the caravan where Danielle was sleeping after the tree and a tree hut were blown over. Danielle was crushed under the branch and died almost immediately but the two friends escaped.
"I was thinking how lucky, I suppose, if you want to call it that, that we didn't go to a triple fatality," he said.
"Obviously the family, (on our) arrival, were quite devastated. There was nothing we could do to help save her," he said.
There were many trees on the property and firefighters were concerned for their safety as they secured the tree.
"It was quite frightening," said Mr Buckton. He described Danielle as an outgoing girl from a well-liked local family.
Danielle was one of six siblings from a keen hockey-playing family.
"(She) was always on the sidelines supporting her brothers and sister and anyone else on the team. She was always a good supporter," he said.
Meanwhile, nearly 200 people are still without electricity after thousands in Northland, Auckland and the Coromandel were cut off when high winds felled trees that downed powerlines.
A spokeswoman for Vector last night said 6400 of its customers had experienced outages over the weekend but only 23 were still without power.
Phone lines were also cut, and "wire snaps" at 175 Northland homes could take several days to repair, a Telecom spokesman said.
The deep low that brought the severe weather was expected to move slowly away from the country this morning, the MetService said today.
However, rain will continue to drench Gisborne for much of today and a further 40mm to 60mm and strong gales were possible through to 3pm, MetService said.
