Cyclone Dovi caused power outages, mudslides and evacuations across New Zealand, but neither the storm nor the music of Barry Manilow could dislodge anti-vaccine protesters camped outside parliament.
Instead, hundreds of protesters, inspired by the "Freedom Convoy" of truckers in Canada, danced in the mud to the tunes meant to force their dispersal.
Not even a tongue-in-cheek offer of help from singer James Blunt could end the stand-off in the capital Wellington, which entered a sixth day with no sign of ending.
Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson told Television New Zealand there was a "sad element" to the protest. "Every New Zealander has a right to peaceful protest, the problem is they have gone well beyond that," he said. "I do find the rhetoric of these protests highly disturbing ...