Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • 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

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

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

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • 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 / Hawkes Bay Today

Heavy rain, flooding and thunderstorms hit Hawke's Bay

By Astrid Austin
Hawkes Bay Today·
5 Sep, 2018 07:35 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

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

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Surface flooding at Awatoto, Napier, yesterday. Photo / Warren Buckland

Surface flooding at Awatoto, Napier, yesterday. Photo / Warren Buckland

Heavy rain caused havoc for Hawke's Bay yesterday and more is on the way.

Hawke's Bay was and still is in the firing line of heavy rain and gales lashing the region.

Hawke's Bay Civil Defence group controller Ian Macdonald said the bad weather was a "two-to-three-year event".

He said the weather had caused damage and problems around roading and farming infrastructure.

And while some of the streams - Maraekakaho in particular - had got quite high, the bigger ones were nowhere near alert levels as of last night, reaching their mean annual levels.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Sheep wait for a break in the rain in a paddock near Hastings. Photo / Warren Buckland
Sheep wait for a break in the rain in a paddock near Hastings. Photo / Warren Buckland

With lambing season under way, Macdonald said the Ministry for Primary Industries is expecting losses of lambs due to the bad weather.

"I think we are in for a little bit of the same today, but we are not expecting any significant impacts. There may be localised flooding but based on the forecast, we are confident the major rivers won't cause us any issues."

MetService recorded more than 100mm of rain in inland Hawke's Bay in the past 24 hours, ending last night, with a further 100mm-150mm inland and 60mm-90mm elsewhere expected to accumulate overnight. By late afternoon, Hastings had reached 77mm. A heavy rain warning for Hawke's Bay and Central Hawke's Bay, issued at 9am yesterday, is expected to last until 1pm today.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Surface flooding encroaches on a vineyard on Te Mata-Mangateretere Rd. Photo / Warren Buckland
Surface flooding encroaches on a vineyard on Te Mata-Mangateretere Rd. Photo / Warren Buckland

Slips and swollen rivers have caused numerous road closures in Hastings, including Makahu Rd at the ford, Aropaoanui Rd, Ellis Wallace Rd, Kereru Rd, Mackenzie Rd and Salisbury Rd.

The NZ Transport Agency has advised that the Napier-Taupo Rd (State Highway 5) was down to one lane due to a slip near Pohokura Rd.

There was also surface water on most state highways including Turira to Wairoa, Pakipaki to Waipukurau, Fernhill to Tikokino.

Macdonald said Civil Defence is keeping an eye on things.

Discover more

New Zealand

Rain causes slips on Napier-Taupo Road

05 Sep 08:15 PM
New Zealand

Hawke's Bay experiences chaotic weather

06 Sep 03:16 AM

"We really encourage people to avoid non-essential travel, particularly on rural roads as those slips can be quite dangerous."

Central Hawke's Bay mayor Alex Walker said although the district had experienced "quite a lot of heavy rain", it was not as bad as it could have been.

"We are taking a very active approach on what the weather is doing and trying to be as proactive as we can."

Meteorologist Angus Hines said it was the result of a "complex and very slow moving low-pressure system" lingering over the eastern North Island.

"It has just brought copious amounts of rain to much of the East Coast of the North Island over the last few days."

When the warning does expire, Hines said the remainder of the week and weekend is also looking damp for Hawke's Bay.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It is looking like another nasty day, with heavy rain and strong southerly winds turning to gale in the evening," he said.

"Hopefully you will start to see a little bit of improvement as the day goes on tomorrow. There will still be some strong southeasterlies, so another cold day."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Education’s $2.5b Budget boost: Where the money is going

22 May 07:46 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Egregious or reasonable? Economists split over student loan repayment threshold freeze

22 May 07:25 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

'Harder on the younger generation': Will Budget changes push Kiwis overseas?

22 May 06:40 AM

The Hire A Hubby hero turning handyman stereotypes on their head

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Education’s $2.5b Budget boost: Where the money is going

Education’s $2.5b Budget boost: Where the money is going

22 May 07:46 AM

Education got a $2.5 billion boost in Budget 2025.

 Egregious or reasonable? Economists split over student loan repayment threshold freeze

Egregious or reasonable? Economists split over student loan repayment threshold freeze

22 May 07:25 AM
'Harder on the younger generation': Will Budget changes push Kiwis overseas?

'Harder on the younger generation': Will Budget changes push Kiwis overseas?

22 May 06:40 AM
‘Not telling us the truth’: Investigation into slaying of Napier teen outside party being hampered

‘Not telling us the truth’: Investigation into slaying of Napier teen outside party being hampered

22 May 06:00 AM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

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
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP