Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty and Coromandel weather: Road closures as rain, gales hammer region

Megan Wilson
Megan Wilson
Multimedia Journalist·Bay of Plenty Times·
18 May, 2023 10:25 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
MetService Severe Weather: May 16th - 18th

Rain and severe gales are hammering the region with weather watches in place until this afternoon.

Tauranga has received 16.1mm of rain in the last 12 hours until 10am, while Te Puke had 23.6mm and Rotorua 16.1mm, MetService meteorologist Jessie Owen said.

A 100km/h wind gust was also recorded at their Mamaku radar while a 76km/h gust was recorded at Rotorua Airport and 63km/h at Tauranga Airport.

Strong gusts of around 100km/h were also recorded at Slipper Island and Great Mercury Island.

Port Jackson Rd is closed at the 11km mark due to a large slip and likely to be closed all day, Thames Coromandel Council said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A slip is blocking the southbound lane on Thames Coast Rd, north of Whakatete Bay, between Tapu and Thames.



Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

SH30 between Tikitere and Lake Rotoma was closed due to fallen trees but has since reopened with traffic management in place in some locations, Waka Kotahi said in a statement.

Police said slips had also blocked the road earlier.

It follows downpours in the region last week that trapped motorists on the Kaimai Range and overwhelmed Rotorua’s wastewater system at several points.

MetService meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane said a yellow heavy rain watch was in place until 3pm in the Bay of Plenty and Rotorua and between 8am and 11am in the Coromandel.

She said it had been “a very wet year so far” and most of the North Island was already “very saturated”.

“Which means that it doesn’t actually take that much rain for some of those impacts to be seen.”

Impacts included possible flooding, slips, hazardous driving conditions and poor visibility, she said.

Makgabutlane said thunderstorms were also expected in the Bay of Plenty and Rotorua this morning. They would be confined to the Eastern Bay of Plenty by the afternoon.

“As we’ve seen recently, thunderstorms tend to bring a very heavy burst of rain over localised areas in a very short space of time,” she said.

“We’re expecting this widespread rain but within that, we could see pockets of more intense rainfall.”

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Makgabutlane said with a low-pressure system moving through from today, there would be “quick strong winds”.

She said people should prepare by moving outdoor furniture inside or tying down trampolines.

Makgabutlane said there was the potential for “severe gales” reaching up to 100km/h in exposed areas.

Compared with last week’s heavy rain, Makgabutlane said the system would be moving through “fairly quickly”.

“We’re not expecting it to linger in any one area for a long time.”

The heavy rain was expected in two waves, the first starting Friday morning.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“Then we do actually expect a bit of an easing. We could see more like showery conditions rather than that persistent rain for the latter half of tomorrow and then into Saturday, we would expect that next band of showers and rain to start coming through.”

The second half of Sunday should bring “clearer weather” with the bulk of the rain having passed by then, she said.

She advised people to keep up to date with the latest rain watches and warnings as MetService was constantly reviewing them as information became available.



Save
    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

Major Tauranga CBD construction site opens for one-day tour

24 Sep 12:01 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

That sinking feeling: Luxury 18m launch goes down a second time

23 Sep 09:28 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

Most council hopefuls back strong Māori role in resource protection - survey

23 Sep 09:19 PM

Sponsored

Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable

22 Sep 01:23 AM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Major Tauranga CBD construction site opens for one-day tour
Bay of Plenty Times

Major Tauranga CBD construction site opens for one-day tour

Visitors can step inside the under-construction civic precinct site on Sunday.

24 Sep 12:01 AM
That sinking feeling: Luxury 18m launch goes down a second time
Bay of Plenty Times

That sinking feeling: Luxury 18m launch goes down a second time

23 Sep 09:28 PM
Most council hopefuls back strong Māori role in resource protection - survey
Bay of Plenty Times

Most council hopefuls back strong Māori role in resource protection - survey

23 Sep 09:19 PM


Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable
Sponsored

Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable

22 Sep 01:23 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP