‘The worst is over’ for Auckland, Northland

‘‘The worst is over’’ for Auckland and Northland after a night of torrential rain, according to Metservice.

But the rest of the country is being told to brace for rain and wind as the storm travels south.

Bay of Plenty and Coromandel are now ‘‘in the firing line’’, with red warnings in place in both regions for much of yesterday,

Metservice meteorologist Karl Loots said.

At 10am yesterday, the state of emergency in Northland was lifted. Auckland, however, remained in a state of emergency.

‘‘Certainly for Auckland and Northland, the worst is over for now,’’ Loots said.

‘‘We are expecting the odd shower on Thursday and Sunday night, but it’s going to be nothing like what we’ve seen. It will be pretty benign in comparison.’’

Although red heavy rain warnings had now lapsed for Auckland and Northland, red warnings remained in place in the Coromandel until 4pm yesterday and 9pm in Bay of Plenty.

Loots said the Coromandel had already received between 50 to 60mm of rain overnight on Tuesday, with peak rainfall rates reaching 16mm per hour.

Many parts of Bay of Plenty had started receiving rain yesterday morning and this would continue until the evening, he said.

‘‘Pretty much the entire North

Island will be affected by this, currently it’s raining anywhere north of the Manawatū and Hawke’s Bay northwards ... that’s slowly spreading south during the day and will eventually reach Wellington as well,’’ Loots said.

However, any severe weather was expected to be contained to the Coromandel and Bay of Plenty regions yesterday, he said.

Torrential showers soaked Auckland early yesterday, with downpours of 30mm to 40mm per hour hitting the city in

the morning.

Meanwhile, parts of Northland received 60mm of rain with rainfall rates hitting 25 to 30mm per hour overnight.

Auckland was expected to see between 50mm to 70mm yesterday, though some parts may receive up to 120mm, and Coromandel and Bay of Plenty between 100mm to 150mm.

Metservice meteorologist Stephen Glassey warned to watch out for dangerous river conditions and additional slips and flooding which were likely from overnight and could cause further disruptions.

‘‘The main band of moisture is moving southwards, so it does look like the second half of tomorrow should ease from Auckland and Coromandel by the end of the day,’’ he said.

An orange heavy rain warning remained in place for Bay of Plenty about and east of Kawerau, and parts of Gisborne north of Ruatoria through until 10am today, with between 100mm to 120mm of rain expected.

Heavy rain watches remained in place for Waikato, Mount Taranaki, northwest Tasman and Westland.

Glassey expected there would be rain ‘‘on and off’’ across much of the country till the weekend.

Bursts of heavy rain and thunderstorms were likely for a number of North Island regions through into today, with rain spreading to northern and western parts of the South Island and continuing into tomorrow.

‘‘The main band of moisture is moving southwards.’’ Stephen Glassey Metservice meteorologist