Extensive flooding closes Coromandel roads

Flooding on the Hikuai Settlement Rd this morning. Photo / Kim L. Coppersmith

Multiple roads are closed in the Coromandel region this morning after heavy rain caused flooding overnight.

According to the New Zealand Transport Agency, sections of State Highway 25 from Coromandel to Whitianga, Tairua to Whitianga and Tairua to Hikuai are all closed as a result of flooding.

The region was hammered last night, with Whitianga seeing almost 30mm of rainfall in two hours and constant downpours into this morning.

A heavy rain warning was issued from 8pm last night to 11am this morning in the Coromandel Peninsula.

MetService forecast periods of heavy rain, with a further 60 to 90mm to accumulate on top of what had already fallen.

It said there would be peak intensities of 10 to 20mm/hr, and thunderstorms possible.

Heavy rain could cause streams and rivers to rise rapidly, with surface flooding and slips possible.

On the Coromandel Peninsula Road Status Facebook page residents have commented about being unable to get to work or even out the door as a result of the heavy flooding in the area.

Latest update on our website:...

Posted by Thames-Coromandel District Council on Monday, 9 September 2019

FORECAST:

Tauranga - Occasional rain, possibly heavy in the morning, then clearing in the evening. Winds tending northeasterly then dying out. High of 13C, low of 6C.

Coromandel - Periods of rain with some heavy falls, and possibly thundery with hail in the north at first. Easterlies, strong at first, dying out at night.