Flood damage, sodden backyards and playgrounds: More heavy rain to batter North Island
Wednesday, 16 October 2019
Heavy rain across the North Island has flooded homes and schools in Waikato and Hawke's Bay.
A slow-moving weather system caused flooding, road closures, fallen trees and powerlines in the northern regions on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Waikato residents were assessing the damage, and Hastings Intermediate School, in Hawke's Bay, told students they could stay home because of the bad weather.
Schennal Hermon's rental property in Huntly looked like a swimming pool had formed outside it, after heavy rain caused a creek to flood and overflow onto nearby properties.
**READ MORE:
* Auckland traffic live: Motorways running smoothly ahead of morning rush
* Fined by police for passing cyclists, hell from boy racers every night
* New Wellington mayor looks to have a fight on his hands over extra Mt Victoria tunnel
* Can centre-right Foster wrangle a left-leaning Wellington council**
'I just couldn't believe it. The whole neighbour's driveway was under water.'
A combination of heavy rainfall, the flooded creek and poor drainage lead to Hermon's front and back yards disappearing under water, with some parts of the property flooded knee-deep, she said.
By Wednesday, the rain and flooding had subsided. But Hermon said 'We've got a big job cleaning up the mess'.
She said a muddy, slushy mess had been left in the garage and some furniture and equipment, including a lawnmower, had been damaged. The cost to replace those items would likely be between $1000-$1500, she said.
'We're going to have to do a load to the dump,' she said.
On Wednesday, the wet weather was expected to blanket more parts of the country as the slow-moving system crossed the North Island. However it wasn't expected to be as heavy as the previous day.
MetService meteorologist Curtis Hayes warned Gisborne and Hawke's Bay would be affected.
'A lot of rainfall watches are pretty much over - Bay of Plenty, Wairarapa, Marlborough,' Hayes said.
'It's the same thing, it's just moved over to the east of the country … The conditions have eased a bit and it's faster moving.'
Gisborne received 70mm to 100mm overnight and those numbers were forecast to rise throughout the day despite the heavy rain warning expiring. Some parts of the Waikato also received up to 100mm of rain across Monday night and Tuesday.
Hawke's Bay received up to 40mm of rain overnight, Hayes said, and a warning for the region would be valid until 5pm.
Some thunderstorms were also possible for the Gisborne and Hawke's Bay areas.
Hastings Intermediate School posted on Facebook saying it was recommending students did not attend school due to 'major flooding in the school playground and more rain forecast'.
'Students that do attend should wear gumboots! To be clear…the school is open but if alternative arrangements can be made today then that would be wise,' the post said.
Hayes said: '[We'll] see rainfall continuing there most of the day and also rain continuing for pretty much the whole North Island east coast.'
Rain was also forecast for Wellington and Christchurch with low cloud and sporadic rain falling in both regions. Hayes said it was expected to be a 'grey morning' for both cities.
Auckland, however, had moved on from the bleak weather and was expected to see clear skies and decent weather throughout the day, with the chance of a few isolated showers later in the morning.
'For today, we're looking at daytime highs around the mid teens up to 20 degrees in the far north.
'Not a particularly warm morning, it is south easterlies across most of the country.'
A high of 17 degrees Celsius and overnight low of 12C was forecast for Auckland, a high of 13C and low of 8C for Wellington, and 15C and 4C for Christchurch, according to the MetService website.
Temperatures in parts of the South Island were expected to drop, with overnight lows of 2C in Dunedin, 3C in Ashburton, and 4C in Timaru.
A large slip has closed State Highway 25A between Kopu and Hikuai in the Waikato, NZTA said.
The slip happened on Tuesday night on the eastern side of the Kopu-Hikuai summit. NZTA advised motorists to delay unnecessary travel, or use the detour in place via State Highway 2 through the Karangahake Gorge.
Recent heavy rain caused a slip along State Highway 7 near Greymouth. The road will be open to one lane on Wednesday and will close about 7pm. It could close at any time due to weather.