Highways blocked and schools closed as heavy rain, gales batter eastern North Island
Tuesday, 12 June 2018
The Lower North Island is feeling the effects to a tropical low brings downpours and high winds to the North Island
The Hutt River has swollen and nearby Block Road and the Riverbank car park have been closed due to surface flooding.
Hutt City Council has asked those with vehicles parked in the car park to remove them.
Heavy rain and gales have been battering the east of the North Island, blocking highways, as a deep low from the subtropics moves down across the North Island.
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A marine warning has been issued in Hawke's Bay after two empty shipping containers were blown into the water.
One container has been washed up on a beach north of Napier but the other is still missing.
Just before midday the NZ Transport Agency recommended people avoid travelling in the Gisborne region, if possible, while Hawke's Bay Civil Defence was urging people to avoid unnecessary travel.
The weather closed 15 schools and six early childhood education centres in the North Island, affecting 1883 students and 175 learners, the Ministry of Education said.
Multiple slips had closed State Highway 5 from Napier to Taupō and flooding had closed SH2 from Gisborne to Opotiki. Further north, a slip was blocking the southbound lane of the Thames Coast Road, between Ngarimu Bay and Whakatete Bay, has been cleared and the road is now open.
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While most rivers were coping at late morning, the Wairoa River was approaching five-year levels, and there were reports of surface flooding, Gisborne Civil Defence group controller Ian Macdonald said. The Esk River near Wairoa was also being closely watched.
People were being urged to keep away from the coast from Cape Kidnappers to Mahia, with heavy swells expected throughout the day, culminating at high tide at 4pm, Macdonald said. A 5.83-metre easterly swell was recorded at the Napier Port buoy.
The Gisborne township of Te Karaka was cut off after the Waipaoa River rose to dangerous levels, affecting 500 - 600 people.
Gisborne District Council said many areas cleared last week after heavy rain had been damaged again.
Heavy rain and strong winds have caused power cuts to at least 2200 customers between Gisborne, Wairoa and Hawke's Bay.
Tairāwhiti Civil Defence and Emergency Management and Gisborne District Council's flood warning team were continuing to monitor river levels and rainfall in the district on Tuesday.
Although rainfall was expected to ease later in the day, current conditions were still of concern, Civil Defence said.
Air New Zealand warned early Tuesday the bad weather could affect flights. MetService reported the peak gust in the hour to 7.30am was 169kmh at White Island.
In Wellington, trains on the Wairarapa line were held up for a time while a tree was cleared from the tracks.
MetService issued a new set of weather warnings from 9am Tuesday.
It added Tongariro National Park, and the eastern hills of Wellington and Wairarapa, to the areas expected to have the heaviest rain. Other areas in the list are the Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Tararua and Kaikōura ranges.
The areas forecast to be hit by the strongest winds, with gusts to 120kmh in exposed areas, were unchanged. They are Bay of Plenty, Taupō, Taihape, Taranaki, Whanganui, Manawatū, Kāpiti-Horowhenua and Marlborough Sounds.
The hills and ranges of north Canterbury were added to the list of other areas that could get heavy rain. Other places on the list are Auckland and Great Barrier Island, northern Waikato, Taupō and Taihape.
Auckland is no longer among the areas at risk of severe gales, while Wairarapa and the Tararua district have been added to the group.
Other areas that could get severe gales are Great Barrier Island, Coromandel Peninsula, eastern Waikato, Gisborne, Taumarunui, Hawke's Bay, Nelson, Buller and Wellington.
A deep low that had come down from the tropics would be moving south southwest across the North Island during Tuesday, MetService meteorologist Matt Todd said.
The low had brought warm moist air with it and was dropping heavy rain, particularly over eastern parts of the North Island. Around 5am Tuesday the low was just off the coast of Bay of Plenty.
'By tonight [Tuesday] it looks like it's close to South Taranaki and Whanganui. Then during the next day it starts moving more south southeast, then during the latter half of Wednesday it starts to move east away from the country,' Todd said.
'The low's at its deepest at the moment… It weakens as it moves south across the North Island.'
The heaviest rain in the 12 hours to 5am Tuesday was in the Gisborne ranges where several gauges recorded around 130mm.
'Closer to the coast there's been steady rain, and it's been heavy at times,' Todd said. Gisborne had 36mm in 12 hours, Tolaga Bay 33mm, Hastings 38mm and Mahia 39mm.
Auckland was under a band of heavy rain for an hour or two, with 10mm recorded at Auckland Airport from 3-4am.
The strongest winds recorded overnight were about 110kmh, on the Mamaku Plateau, White Island, and Cape Kidnappers, while at Hicks Bay gusts got to about 100kmh.
Two empty shipping containers were blown into the sea from the container terminal at Napier Port on Monday night.
One has been located on the foreshore between Westshore and Bayview. The Harbour Master is now managing the situation and Police have been notified.
'We're yet to determine the location of the second container – anyone who sees the container should call Napier Port on (06) 833 4440 or the Police,' a Port spokeswoman said.
A marine warning has been issued to shipping and the boating community to notify of the hazard, she said.
Napier Port is also working to retrieve a navigational buoy which has come loose in the swell conditions and is heading toward where the shipping container has beached.
All shipping is currently on hold until weather conditions improve.