Three tornadoes, hail as big as a tennis ball and 2000 lightning strikes were reported on the West Coast yesterday -- with another front forecast to strike later today.

Wild winds sweeping the country have caused serious disruption to flight schedules, caused power outages and closed roads this evening.

A grassroots rugby team have been accused of making racist remarks about Polynesian rugby players during a local game.

Severe weather on the West Coast has caused a creek to burst its banks and forced the closure of some roads in the area.

Searchers looking just north of Hokitika for one of the rarest vertebrate animals in the country have struck gold.

The West Coast is about to get a slew of new chief executives in key roles, with interest from overseas in the top ranking positions.

An elected member of the West Coast District Health Board who worked in mental health for 41 years, has hit out at suicide prevention.

Company says latest Solid Energy cuts not a 'slash and burn exercise'.

Labour has called the mental health system "increasingly desperate" after a man suffering from depression went missing for the second time in less than two months.

Bronwyn Sell finds the natural wonders of the West Coast can match the Big Five of any safari.

Police say it will take a while to complete their investigation into the Gloriavale Christian Community after it was revealed five children were taken into CYF's care.

Punakaiki's pancake rocks are enough to make Elisabeth Easther flip out.

An alleged drug-driver was caught with a weapon and a stash of drugs after a member of the public raised concerns about her driving on a West Coast highway.

Five tourists from Asia, only in the country for a matter of hours after flying into Christchurch, crashed on a West Coast highway over the weekend.

Report from nine years ago warned Northern Buller residents to move within a decade. Problem is, residents say they never got it.

Gold mines built the town now famous for its carnivorous snails, says Elisabeth Easther.

The West Coast fishing season opens at dawn tomorrow, but one of the biggest whitebait buyers in South Westland says he is not holding his breath for a bountiful season.

At least two classrooms at South Westland Area School, in the small West Coast town of Hari Hari, were destroyed in a fire last night.

Solid Energy acting chairman Andy Coupe admitted it was "unlikely" that any sale, or sales, would cover its outstanding debt.

Drink-drivers tested police patience throughout the West Coast at the weekend.

Mr Key said Solid Energy had $300 million of outstanding debt and was in a "precarious position".

Illicit drug use is rampant in the West Coast workforce, with methamphetamine the drug of choice, according to recent tests.

More than 20 jobs will be lost when Downer closes its West Coast offices at the end of August.

Human remains were found in the rubble of the ruined remote property yesterday.

The shed was "completely destroyed" by the time the fire was discovered, police said.

Firefighters are trying to confirm if anybody was stuck inside a building on fire on the West Coast this morning.

South Island's Agassiz Glacier has been "un-named" as part of a global campaign to remove the use of the name of Agassiz, a Swiss geologist who believed not all races were created equal.

Bronwyn Sell stays in an ocean-front room on the West Coast.