Rain bomb dumps on Napier

What looks like a ball of rain hovers over Napier, as the town recovers from a Thursday evening deluge.

The warning was for a thunderstorm.

But most of the noise in Napier came from the sound of a rain bomb dumping rain on the roofs of homes and businesses, and the "whoosh" of drains coping with the 30 minute downpour just after 6pm.

In Taradale, sheets of rain seemingly slung from over the nearby hills characterised the heavy run which forced traffic around Napier to slow to speeds well below prevailing limits.

MetService had earlier issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the region between 5.22pm and 6.22pm

Businesses on Taradale Rd had water lapping ankle deep at the front door after a stormwater drains struggled to cope with the water volumes.

And then it was all over.

By 6.30pm the rain had reduced to showers which had all but cleared at 7pm.

The NZ Fire Service received four calls - three to Marewa and one to the CBD - in quick succession but reported no major damage.

Metservice does not have an inner Napier rainfall recording site, but did record 11mm at Hawke's Bay Airport just north of the city.

The heaviest rainfall recorded by Metservice in the Hawke's Bay region however 120km way at Wairoa Airport where 15m had fallen in the hour to 5pm.

There was less than 1mm of rain at the Hastings recording station.