Batten down for another wild weekend

Heavy rain and severe gales are set to batter Auckland this weekend, raising concerns about already weakened trees and potential power cuts.

MetService issued a heavy rain and wind watch for the region from this morning to tomorrow as a front moves over the upper North Island.

The front is forecast to be preceded by heavy rain and easterly gales.

Up to 70mm of rain may fall in Auckland from 9am to 9pm today, with potential for more heavy rain tomorrow.

East to northeast winds could also reach gale force, and potentially severe gale force in exposed places, from 8am today to 1am tomorrow.

Northland is also under a heavy rain watch, with up to 75mm of rain forecast from 3am to 6pm today, and more tomorrow. Winds may reach gale force from 8am to 6pm today.

The NZ Transport Agency said State Highway 11 past Lemons Hill north of Kawakawa will be closed to all traffic from last night until at least Tuesday morning because of forecast bad weather.

The closure was for safety reasons and a geotechnical engineer would assess the slip on Monday afternoon for a possible reopening of the road at limited times on Tuesday.

A heavy rainfall warning is also in force for Coromandel Peninsula and western Bay of Plenty, with potential for 100-120mm of rain over a 24-hour period from 1pm today.

WeatherWatch NZ analyst Philip Duncan said following the April 10 storm in Auckland, which brought winds over 200km/h, even fairly low end gusty winds from the opposing direction could cause further complications today.

“The [last] storm . . . blew in from the west to southwest. The gusty winds [today] will be coming in from the opposite direction and this may loosen or break already damaged branches and trees.”

Auckland energy distributor Vector said the strong winds this weekend could loosen or break already damaged branches and trees.