Hawke's Bay flooding: Residents evacuated by jetboat as 270mm of rain hits north of Napier
Thursday, 8 March 2018
More than 270mm of rain fell in just 12 hours on the small settlement of Rissington, inland of Napier, causing the Mangaone River to flood and damage at least one house.
Elsewhere, police and firefighters used a jetboat to evacuate residents from houses near the Esk Valley, north of Napier, as severe rain and thunderstorms hit the area.
Daniel Absolom, who farms Rissington Station, about 25 kilometres from Napier, said the river was higher than it had been during Cyclone Bola, which hit the region exactly 30 years ago.
'It was very isolated to us here in Rissington. We had 11 inches [almost 280mm] in the 12 hours to midday [Thursday]. We had thunder, lightning and heavy, heavy rain overnight,' he said.
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A new house recently built near the Rissington bridge over the Mangaone River had about 30cm of water running through it, Absolom said.
The station's two pump houses had been washed away. 'We couldn't get to them fast enough. We've lost the pumps and the sheds.
'One of them had survived Bola. The river's certainly higher than it was during Bola, but stock losses aren't anywhere near as bad.
'The river just came up so fast. It hit at about 8am, and within half an hour it was a raging torrent. Several tributaries became rivers in their own right,'
Hawke's Bay Regional Council spokesman Drew Broadley said water levels in the Esk River, north of Napier, were the highest they had been since 2010.
Some areas northwest of Napier experienced a 1-in-100 year rainfall event, and the flow of the Esk reached a level seen once in an estimated 80 years.
Police closed the Napier-Taupo Rd, State Highway 5, before 10am 'for the foreseeable future due to surface flooding', though it reopened in the afternoon.
SH2 between Eskdale and Tutira was also closed, before reopening later.
A group of Havelock North intermediate students staying at the Weka Point campground near Rissington left on Thursday when the extent of the storm became obvious.
The situation eased and rivers dropped. But 50mm to 60mm of rain was expected to fall over Thursday night, but would spread over a longer period of time.
Residents who left their homes on Thursday were advised they could return, but those in the Esk River catchment area were asked to remain prepared to evacuate at short notice should the situation change.
Fifty campers were evacuated from the Eskdale Holiday Park due the Esk River flooding.
Long-time Eskdale Holiday Park resident John Ogilvey had lived in the camp ground for six years, and said it was the worst weather he had experienced.
'I went next door to the neighbours and just by their place was the river. Normally, it's about 50 yards away,' he said.
'It's been very heavy and steady … I've never seen anything like it before.'
Ogilvey's house-bus was not able to be moved like some other caravans at the site, as it had no motor.
The annual Horse of the Year show at the Hastings A&P showgrounds is on from March 13-18. On Thursday organisers informed attendees that rain had pushed back the arrival to the grounds to 10am on Sunday.
HEAVIEST RAIN
Hawke's Bay Regional Council data shows the heaviest rain has been falling to the northwest and west of Napier.
At peak intensity - from 5-6am - more than 55mm fell in one hour at Glengarry, with 50mm the hour before that, around 35mm the hour after, and more than 50mm from 7-8am.
'Basically they've sat under a thunderstorm all morning,' MetService meteorologist Tom Adams said. 'There's been falls of up to 50mm an hour under that cell. Unfortunately because it's not moving, they're all falling on that spot.'
The cell was moving around a little, but the rain was very localised. For example, not far away in Napier, 16mm had fallen between midnight and noon.
By around noon, 229 lightning strikes had been recorded in the region during the morning. 'It's a very big number for just one isolated cell like that,' Adams said.
In one 15-minute period at Glengarry - from 5.30-5.45 - 27mm fell. 'Those are the kind of rainfall totals that only come from thunderstorms.'