Ex-cyclone Fili throws a curve ball at Central Hawke's Bay

Some roads were closed in Central Hawke's Bay after ex-tropical cyclone Fili took a bizarre Wednesday afternoon turn on its unpredictable path and tossed as much as 80 millimetres of rain on a small area in three hours.

The figure was on the Hawke's Bay Regional Council website rainfall page, saying 85.8mm of rain had accumulated at Omakere, east of Waipukurau, during the day up to 2pm.

It was easily the highest rainfall posted for the day in Central Hawke's Bay, and most of the Wairoa District, which had been forecast to be particularly at risk from Fili as it wreaking havoc further north on the East Coast similar to that which hit the coast-Gisborne and Wairoa area late last month.

The Omakere figure was unable to be confirmed from any other source, but farmer Mark Warren, of Waipari Station, posted on social media a video portraying a torrent that poured across the station's bridge and also flooded Mangakuri Rd.

The scene on Waipari Station Rd, Omakere, after a mid-afternoon deluge. Photo / Mark Warren

He told Hawke's Bay Today it showed just how quickly things could change – estimating it all happened in less than three hours.

In an update at 3.30pm the Central Hawke's Bay District Council said Mangakuri Rd would be closed overnight with no detour, as would Clareinch Rd.

There were "partial" closures on River Rd and Elsthorpe Rd, while there was 4X4 access only on Pourerere Beach Rd and on Pourerere Rd the drainage system was inundated with water and likely to leave debris on the road as the water receded.

Meanwhile, the MetService Red warning for heavy rain in Northern Hawke's Bay – once for up to 350mm in little over 24-27hrs but modified mid-morning to up to 150mm in the 19hrs to 4am Thursday remained in place as evening arrived, and with a significant increase in rainfall late in the afternoon.

At 5pm, there had been 106mm at Aniwaniwa in Te Urewera, and on the Wairoa River 52mm at Marumaru and 45.5mm at the town's Railway Bridge. There had also been 81.5mm to the east at Pukeorapa Station.

It came on top of record-breaking figures last month, more than 1000mm in some areas, but notably a 1964-2022 March record of 405mm at Wairoa, and March-one-day 1990-2022 record of 79mm at Mahia, as reported in Niwa's March summary.

Earlier, the Wairoa District Council, having on Tuesday evening decided against an early precautionary state of emergency with the rain expected so soon after last month's devastation, was adding to Hawke's Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group warnings to prepare for the worst.

Wairoa mayor Craig Little said about 6pm: "We're still hanging in there, not too bad that we could call a state of emergency yet. It's not too bad, the river's down ... that's the main thing."