Houses evacuated in Torbay; more questions raised about donations to NZ First; children said to be actively seeking sexual contact with adults on the internet.
NZ Herald
'A Disaster Waiting to Happen' is the headline in The New Zealand Herald. Emergency services were preparing on Wednesday night for a big slip they fear could wipe out a street of homes on the North Shore.
Police evacuated dozens of people from 15 houses in Lingham Cres, Torbay, after the storm left a 12metre split in the ground.
Also on the front page: 12 Takapuna townhouse owners have been awarded more than $2 million to fix their leaky buildings - and the North Shore City Council is expected to foot the bill.
The Dominion Post
The Dominion Post says the weather cut a swath of destruction, with wind and rain forecast to continue for some areas.
From Parliament: the paper says more questions have been raised about donations to New Zealand First - this time over a $20,000 deposit to the party's bank account that does not appear on its register of declared donations.
The Press
The Press says thousands of Marlborough, Nelson and West Coast residents face chaos on Thursday as the storm heads to Canterbury.
The paper's political editor says Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters faces possible investigation by the Serious Fraud Office over allegations New Zealand First took large donations from wealthy individuals without declaring them.
ODT
The Otago Daily Times says repairs on structurally unsound wharves and sea walls at Dunedin's Steamer Basin look set to escalate the costs of developing the harbourside by more than $14 million.
New Zealand children as young as 12 are said to be actively seeking sexual contact with adults on the internet with little idea of the ongoing consequences of their actions.
At an Internet safety conference in Queenstown, NetSafe operations manager Lee Chisholm said the group had found three cases of "complicit victims", including one girl who sent 300 photos of herself to an Internet "boyfriend" .
