‘Hazardous’ waves: Warning to stay out of water in Bay

We are encouraging people to stay out of the waters because of the large swells with the system as it passes through. Ashlee Parkes, Metservice meteorologist

At Mount Maunganui beach near Tay St, a young family were seen swimming despite the warnings. The father declined to comment.

Civil Defence emergency management Bay of Plenty director Clinton Naude said the national advisory to stay out of the water, off the beaches, shore areas, rivers and harbours had been extended until further notice.

“There is still volcanic activity in Tonga and our thoughts are with everyone there.”

Naude said the advice was for people to move out of the water to reduce their risk of harm.

“However, there has not been an imminent life safety risk on land, no evacuations required, and no risk of flooding on land or coastal inundation, therefore emergency mobile alerts have not been necessary.”

The mobile alerts were used for tsunami warnings where there was considered to be a significant lifesafety risk, he said.

“We are keeping a close eye on the situation and working with the National Emergency Management Agency and GNS to ensure we are giving the community the latest information.”

Naude said precautions are also still in place for Cyclone Cody and he advised people to check the Metservice website and Facebook page for the latest weather updates.

Metservice meteorologist Ashlee Parkes said models initially tracked Cyclone Cody towards the Bay but it was now looking like the cyclone would pass east of the country.

“The Bay of Plenty will see little to no weather associated with the system.”

Parkes said the main thing was keeping a close eye on sea and swell conditions in the region.

Waves to the northeast were expected to reach up to 5m, she said.

“Combined wave conditions will be hazardous . . .

“There is potential for significant sea surges, rip currents, and coastal inundation.

“We are encouraging people to stay out of the waters because of the large swells with the system as it passes through.”

But she said the sea conditions would deteriorate later today.

Parkes said tomorrow was looking to be “quite warm”, with Tauranga recording a high of 31C.

However, she said it will be a “bit windy”, with strong southwesterlies across the country.

The Mauao base track and Moturiki Island was closed yesterday due to “strong and unpredictable surges”, Tauranga City Council said.

Kaysi Fredericks, who is an administrator for the BOP & Waikato Weather and Natural Events Facebook page, said she had about 3000 new members overnight on Saturday due to the eruption.

New members from Rotorua, Hamilton, Murupara and as far as Christchurch, joined the social media page after seeing updates being posted of the Tongan eruption.

“I had no idea it was going to be shared nationally.”

Fredericks said many people heard the “sonic boom” on Saturday when the eruption occurred in Tonga.

“They were commenting that their whole house was shaking, their windows and everything.”

Tauranga Bridge Marina manager Tony Arnold put out a warning earlier in the week for everyone to tie their boats up for the weekend in case

We are pretty protected from anything coming from the east. The swells from the volcano eruption didn’t come this far down. Tony Arnold, Tauranga Bridge Marina manager

Cyclone Cody hit.

“We are pretty protected from anything coming from the east. The swells from the volcano eruption didn’t come this far down.

“We have got a bit of change of tidal direction but nothing damaging.”

Maketu¯ Coastguard president Shane Beech said there was visible surging on the beach.

“We’ve got some really massive sea.”