The big wet
Brace yourself for a wild day
Auckland and other parts of the North Island face a heavy rain warning, with up to 150mm tipped to fall this week.
“Severe” winds could also hit the city today, the MetService says.
The wild weather, expected to kick in overnight, has forced contractors to postpone scheduled road works until it clears and spurred road safety warnings from the Automobile Association and Transport Authority.
Heavy rain warnings were yesterday issued for Northland, Auckland, the western Bay of Plenty and the Coromandel Peninsula, as well as the top of the South Island, with parts of Marlborough and Nelson expected to get a soaking.
Auckland would be feeling the brunt of a northeasterly weather system, MetService Auckland forecaster Georgina Griffiths said. “We’re in for an extremely wet few days.”
Between 100mm and 150mm of rain were expected to fall from last night until tomorrow, with today set to be the wettest day of the week.
Duty forecaster Frances Russell last night said the weather was due to ease to showers by tomorrow with more showers on Thursday, before clearing on Friday. Showers are expected back on Saturday.
She said the wind would pick up today, turning to gales at night and tomorrow morning, possibly “becoming severe” before easing off in the afternoon.
Surface flooding and slips could occur in Northland due to the heavy rain, Civil Defence Northland said.
Emergency management group spokesman Graeme MacDonald said this afternoon was expected to be the period of most concern. Up to 150mm of rain was predicted to hit the the region in the 36 hours to 8pm today. He said Kaikohe had had 100mm of rainfall by midday yesterday, and Civil Defence was collecting data for other areas in Northland.
Mr MacDonald said problems could include rapid rises in rivers and streams, resulting in surface flooding and the possibility of slips.
Up to 200mm of rain was predicted to fall from noon yesterday until midday today in the Coromandel and Western Bay of Plenty.
And the rain will make setting up for National Fieldays at Hamilton’s Mystery Creek Events Centre a “rather soggy affair”, the MetService said, but the weather looked set to slowly improve through the week with some sunnier spells returning for the final few days. The event starts tomorrow and finishes on Saturday.
The Transport Authority said scheduled night works on the Poike Rd roundabout on State Highway 29 in the Bay of Plenty had been postponed until the weather clears.
Dylan Thomsen of the AA said drivers should increase the usual two-second following gap to four seconds and keep lights on.