Bay of Plenty downpours may cause flooding

Heavy rain and thunderstorms are set to batter the Bay of Plenty until tomorrow morning, Metservice warns.

It has issued a severe weather warning as a slow-moving trough sets in east of Te Puke this afternoon.

The low is likely to bring between 70 and 100mm of rain by mid tomorrow morning, with the worst weather focused east of Whakatane, the warning said.

That will cause streams and rivers to rise quickly, while localised downpours could bring surface flooding and slips, it said.

- NZ HERALD STAFF