Frightening moment female pedestrian is swept into oncoming traffic by a gust of wind during wild weather
Destructive winds in New Zealand pushed a woman onto a busy road causing her to roll in front of cars as severe wind weather warnings were issued along coastal areas.
Dashcam footage, published by passer-by Justin Ashworth on Thursday, showed the unfortunate pedestrian waiting at a crossing on a Wellington intersection.
The woman almost seemed to trip forward, pushed by gale winds, and rolled partially into the road.
Her bag and personal items went flying as, fortunately for the pedestrian, a grey Toyota Prius quickly stopped before hitting her.
People jumped on social media to share similar experiences of wild weather carrying them into risky situations.
‘Those gusts we just had were wild,’ one user said.
Another added: ‘I’ve seen this happen in Southport Central Buildings in Gold Coast, Queensland.’
‘Several people getting blown over in one big gust of wind, it injured two ladies rather badly.’
Wild winds have swept through parts of New Zealand with one woman having a close call
Dashcam footage has shown the terrifying moment the woman was waiting at a traffic light crossing in Wellington when she was thrown by the wind into the road
The woman rolled into the road, her bag and personal items thrown onto the asphalt while a number of cars stopped to avoid her
The Met Service – Te Ratonga Tirorangi – has severe weather warnings for damaging gales and significant heavy rain for southern and central New Zealand on Thursday.
An active front, associated with a significant deep low to the south, will move over the area through the day, with significant impacts expected.
Strong red wind warnings have been applied to Wellington and Wairarapa south of Carterton, Christchurch, Marlborough from Cape Campbell southward, and Canterbury High Country and Plains.
The bureau warned there is a possibility that orange warnings currently in place may be upgraded to red notices.
NZ Police have also urged motorists to take care on the roads, with bad weather causing issues in many parts of the country.
People have been warned to avoid travelling in bad weather where possible and to use extreme caution if in severe wind.
It comes as Australia has experienced similar extreme weather throughout Wednesday, with two men dying off Frankston Pier after being swept away by gales.
Widespread gusts between 90km/h and 110km/h were expected in the state, pushing up to 125km/h along the coast, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
More than 12,000 Victorian households and businesses remained without power as of 7.30pm on Wednesday because of unplanned outages.
Meanwhile, temperatures in New South Wales were 10-12C higher than average as total fire bans were declared for much of the state.
Parts of western Sydney baked as temperatures neared 40C, reaching 39.8°C in Bankstown and 39.5°C at Penrith after 1pm, both record highs for October.
