Karangarua River Suspension Bridge (New Zealand)

Karangarua River Suspension Bridge in New Zealand on April 17, 2014 during Cyclone Ita The back story: My wife and son and I were on our way to see Franz Josef Glacier and the wind really started to pick up as Cyclone Ita moved in. Trees and power lines were coming down but we hoped to reach the town where we had lodging reservations. Several camper vans had already been blown off of the road. When we reached the Karangarua River Bridge, a relative of a highway department worker had blocked it off. The actual highway department could not reach our side of the bridge. We could not go further and the roads back were also now closed. A bunch of us had no choice but to spend the night until the storm passed over. One family visiting from Japan had a real car full. Since no motels were available and they did not have room to sleep in their car, some local residents offered their home to them. New Zealand people are the greatest! Although there were high winds, it was not cold. We had enough food, beer, and camping supplies to spend the night in the car comfortably. Visions of the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge filled my dreams. In the morning we noticed that a car had driven by and did not come back. Maybe the bridge was open! Knowing what the bridge had been through during the night, we decided we should really inspect for damage before trying to cross with a vehicle. After seeing the seven broken supports, my initial reaction was that the bridge was not safe, at least for a heavy vehicle. While we were on the bridge, a large camper van barreled though with no problem. So we decided that our small car might be okay, especially if we hugged the “good” side of the road. Of course as we crossed, a pickup truck decided to follow us closely doubling the stress on the bridge! We crossed our fingers and held our breath and made it safely across. Shortly after we left the bridge, we encountered a highway maintenance truck on its way to close the bridge. The entire road between the bridge and Franz Josef remained closed for a couple of days. The entire town of Franz Josef was without electrical power, but we were able to stay in a motel and use the gas burners in the guest kitchen to cook dinner and breakfast. We also had the glacier to ourselves since fallen trees blocked the road to the glacier and only the hiking trails were open.