What Debbie did in Taranaki
It’s been very wet and very windy, but it seems we’re over the worst.
The worst is Metservice says.
After three days of weatherrelated chaos, the tail of Cyclone Debbie has finally chased itself out of town.
Metservice meteorologist Andy Best said although the cyclone was gone, strong winds and showers should still be expected.
‘‘The low is now moving away from New Zealand.
‘‘What this means for you is that you are going to be left with a westerly wind.’’
Best said the wind was expected to blow at about 45km an hour, with gusts up to 70km/h.
‘‘The heavy rain should be over but there will still be showers coming in off the sea.’’ finally over,
But it shouldn’t be long before blue skies are seen again in Taranaki.
The Metservice forecast shows the weather should begin to clear today and lead into four days of relatively fine weather.
But it’s likely to be a short reprieve - rain is expected to be back by next Tuesday and looks set to continue on for several days after that.
It can only be hoped it won’t be as bad as it has been this week.
At the airport in New Plymouth, Tuesday was the wettest day with 49.8mm of rain falling, compared to 16.2mm on Monday and 24.4mm on Wednesday.
But Hawera got that much rain on two out of the three days: on Monday just 9.4mm fell, but on Tuesday 49.4mm soaked the town and 1mm less came on Wednesday.
Getting progressively worse, Stratford measured 16mm on Monday, 80mm on Tuesday and 85mm yesterday.
Up the mountain, Dawson Falls recorded 15mm on Monday, 124mm on Tuesday and 165mm on Wednesday.
Flooding and slips closed a number of rural roads on Tuesday and blocked both State Highway 3 and SH43 on Wednesday.
Both roads were back open yesterday, though were still down to one lane in places.
In the Stratford district, McBrides Bridge, Matau North Road, Whitianga Road and Vera Road were still closed yesterday, but the council was aiming to get them open by 5pm today. ❚ Report by Catherine Groenestein and Kirsty McMurray.