More heavy rain on way for region

Some areas of rural Havelock North were flooded yesterday, making it difficult for residents to drive in or out of their properties. Photo / Ken Ormond

Hawke's Bay people are being warned of more heavy rain until midnight tonight, with a warning issued yesterday afternoon.

The rainfall totals are expected to be less than five-yearly averages but Hawke's Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management group controller Liz Lambert said the large amount of rain on saturated ground quickly ran off and could cause rivers to rise rapidly.

"Surface flooding is likely on some roads, with possible slips where unstable ground has become saturated," Mrs Lambert said.

The heavy rainfall is making Tim Turvey, from Clearview Winery, Te Awanga, happy. Photo / Paul Taylor

She said while there are no real concerns at this stage, the main rivers (Tukituki, Waipawa, Ngaruroro, Tutaekuri and Wairoa) are likely to rise to the annual levels, probably sometime today.

These levels generally do not cause any significant issues, however, river users are being urged to be aware of the normal dangers associated with higher river flows. Smaller tributaries should also be avoided if possible,as they respond much quicker to short bursts of intense rain, and can be dangerous.

For more information on getting ready for a Civil Defence emergency, visit hbemergency.govt.nz or visit Hawke's Bay Emergency on Facebook or Twitter.

In terms of what the Hawke's Bay populace could see into and through the weekend, there is a touch of 50-50 about things.

For those keen to see clear blue skies and a touch of spring warmth to the air, the immediate news is not the best - according to the MetService long-range forecast for the region, based on computer modelling.

At this stage, the landscape is set to remain a damp one well into next week, although if a ridge hovering over the South Island gets some extra support behind it things could change for the better.

Meteorologist Chelsea Glue said the situation was difficult to accurately predict at this stage but did provide some optimism.

"The easterlies will persist up until the weekend but on Saturday and Sunday they may start to break down."

She said there was a broad ridge of high pressure moving this way and that meant that the more traditional September/October westerlies were "set to return".

That could be next week, although the unpredictability of the situation did leave a question mark over that scenario.

"The low sitting just east of the North Island is just sitting around," she said, adding that the ridge to the south needed additional help to "flush" it away from the eastern seaboard.

The only bright spot to the present computer model forecast was that temperatures would rise next week to 17C and possibly 18C, but they could be accompanied by showers and light winds.

While the heaviest of the falls will have passed the region by tomorrow, showers and cloud will hang around until at least the weekend, when some clearance could emerge.

Temperatures will hover around the un-springlike 14C mark.