When Cyclone Gabrielle hit, the residents of Esk Valley couldn’t imagine the destruction and danger that it would bring to their beautiful land. Kea Kids News reporter Tayla interviews two kids about their harrowing escape, and we take a look at what the flooding has done to their homes.
Video / Kea Kids News
A Napier rainfall record that had stood for 144 years has been broken by the smallest of late December downpours.
That summary covers the entire country and tells a story ofnear-relentless rain events for much of the East Coast including Cyclone Gabrielle and ex-tropical Cyclone Hale.
The report shows Napier recorded its highest-ever annual rainfall in 2023 since Niwa records began in 1870, with 1363mm of rain, or 173 per cent of normal, falling at Niwa’s Hawke’s Bay Airport station.
Rainfall was well above normal (>149 per cent of annual normal) for Hawke’s Bay in 2023 and Hawke’s Bay was one of the regions that received at least 400 per cent of normal January and February rainfall.
The highest daily rainfall total from regularly reporting Niwa gauges excluding high elevation stations across the entire country in 2023 was 561mm at Tareha, near the Esk River, on February 13.
Tūtira had the third highest rainfall recorded in that category nationally, with 316mm at Hurford Rd on February 13.
New Zealand’s three warmest years on record have all occurred in the last three years.
Napier had its second-highest mean annual temperature, 15.7C, since records began in 1870.
The country as a whole was a long way from its wettest year on record, despite the weather events of the previous summer.
The nationwide average rainfall for 2023 was 104 per cent, only the 21st highest on record since Niwa began analysis on that metric in 1961.
“Several climate drivers came together to produce an exceptional year of weather in New Zealand. One major climate driver of 2023 was the transition from a La Niña to an El Niño,” the Niwa annual summary said.
The Annual Climate Summary gives an overview of the severe weather events across the country, including several that severely impacted Hawke’s Bay.
A total of 73 local roads were closed or significantly obstructed by slips.
James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz
