Parks show green shoots one year after storm

“A few moments of wild weather altered landscapes that had taken generations to establish. A year on, the effects are still visible in nearly every green space in our city,” she said.

On 23 October 2025, Invercargill residents woke to a calm spring morning, with light winds, sunshine and warm temperatures. By lunchtime, the conditions had dramatically reversed, with wind gusts exceeding 130 km/h buffeting the city and causing widespread damage and disruption.

While the most extreme weather lasted only a few hours, the resulting damage left thousands of people across the region without access to critical infrastructure, including electricity and telecommunications. A local state of emergency remained in place until 7 November, more than two weeks after the first of the winds hit.

Rain said all parks, reserves and sports fields in Invercargill were closed immediately following the storm, with a notable closure being the award-winning Queens Park in the heart of the city.

“Queens Park was closed to the public for possibly the first time in its 170-year history,” she said.

“Dozens of trees had blown over and many of those still standing were in bad shape. There was the very real risk of hanging branches and entire trees falling, even after the worst of the weather had passed.”

Other prominent areas affected by weather-related damage included the Roger Sutton Boardwalk, parts of Ōtepuni Gardens and the mountain bike trails at Sandy Point.

The recovery effort at Queens Park was carried out in stages, with small sections reopening in November and the bulk of the park reopening at the end of January 2026.

Invercargill Mayor Tom Campbell said the commitment and determination of staff and contractors during the recovery was inspiring.

“The emotional attachment that Council staff clearly feel towards our parks is extraordinary. I will never forget their tears at seeing the damage from the storm, but also their determination to bring our parks back,” he said.

Rain said a significant lesson from the recovery was the sheer scale and complexity of managing trees following an extreme weather event.

“The immediate priority was public safety, but making our parks safe again was not simply a matter of picking up what had blown over. In Queens Park in particular, we had arborists scaling trees with chainsaws, and woodchippers and heavy machinery operating in multiple areas.

“The recovery involved a sustained effort by both Council staff and contractors over many months.

“It was thanks to these efforts that we could reopen many of our parks and reserves much sooner than we initially anticipated,” she said.

More than 630 trees were climbed and pruned by arborists and over 1000 trees were removed from green spaces across the city.

A further 60 trees were felled in July 2026, including some of the oldest and largest trees in the Town Belt, following a decision by Councillors to remove them for safety reasons highlighted by October’s storm.

The removal of storm-damaged trees generated 1,200 tonnes of excess wood and saleable logs, as well as large piles of mulched woodchips, which were being used in gardens across Council’s parks and reserves. Some of the excess wood was distributed as firewood to community groups, including Makerewa Lions Club and Awarua Whānau Services.

Rain said the storm event had influenced how Council thinks about resilience and tree management, as it looked toward the future with dedicated landscape planning efforts for the areas that had suffered major tree loss.

“You can't simply replace a 100-year-old tree with another 100-year-old tree. Some of the character we lost will take generations to rebuild,” she said.

An updated Tree Plan 2026 was currently being finalised to provide a strategic framework for managing trees across the city, while landscape planning under way for Queens Park would inform how different areas of the park could be replanted.

“The loss was immense, but it has created an opportunity to think carefully about what these public spaces could look like,” Rain said.

“Our job now is to make thoughtful decisions about what we plant and how we shape these spaces so they remain valuable for the people of Invercargill well into the future.”