Wet week but outlook sunny for Easter Sunday

Severe weather and rain caused minor damage to the area at the end of the week with power cuts, power pole arches and crashes across the Bay, but looked set to clear for a sunny Easter.

The heavy rain warnings were lifted yesterday as the rain and wind moved across the Bay of Plenty. Metservice predicted the rain to hold off today for holiday makers until possibly the afternoon or evening.

Easter Sunday was expected to be perfect for egg hunters, with mainly good weather for the day.

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Some houses in Te Puke had reported power cuts on Thursday morning, caused by severe weather conditions over the last few days.

Firefighters across the area had been called out to arching power lines which had gone down.

This occurred in Papamoa at about 3.30am, Greeton at about 5.15am, and Waihi at 9.36am, according to Northern Fire Communications spokesman Jaron Phillips.

Tauranga City Council communications adviser Marcel Currin said despite the bad weather, there had not been much damage around the area.

According to Mr Currin, there were tree branches on the road along Marine Parade, but it had cleared up in the early hours of Thursday.