With parts of the Auckland region being spared from the weather bomb over the last 18 hours, during late July back in 2008 Aucklanders certainly copped it a little more.

Here is a bit of a breakdown on what occurred nearly 4 years ago.

Heavy rain began falling in Auckland by mid-morning.The city had already had rain every weekend in July washed out and cancelling hundreds of rugby, soccer and hockey games. The weekend of the weather bomb saw the Auckland Hockey Association cancel games for the first time in five years.

High winds caused a number of faults to power cables and brought down power lines in Auckland, cutting power to 60,000 customers. 53,000 homes in Rodney, Waitakere and the North Shore were without power and there were 7000 without power in Howick, Otara, Clevedon, Mangere and parts of Waiheke Island.
More than 35 vessels broke their moorings off Auckland. Debris, including roofing iron, roadwork barriers and road signs, fallen trees and power lines were blown on to roads.
Winds in Auckland peaked at 4 in the afternoon, with recorded average speeds of 96km/h, gusting to 130km/h.

On the North Shore, a number of hot water pilot lines were extensively damaged by the storm. Affected areas included Narrowneck, Devonport to Hauraki Corner, and parts of Puhoi and Coatesville.
About 1500 customers on the Vector network were without hot water. Dozens of residents were still without hot water a week after the severe weather damaged power supplies. Vector estimated 40 to 50 homes were still without their supply.

The SkyTower was closed mid afternoon because the spire was swaying too much. About 500 people had restaurant reservations cancelled.

The speed limit on the Auckland Harbour Bridge was reduced to 60 km/hr and motorcycles were banned due to high winds. Lanes onto the bridge were also closed by whipped up waves.
Gusts on the bridge were clocked at up to 135 km/hr and were “pushing” cars around.The cut off point for closing the harbour bridge entirely is 150 km/hr.

That particular day certainly posed problems for Aucklanders with big winds causing many issues for numerous residents.

Stats courtesy of NIWA

Image courtesy of Jared-Lee