Super slow motion video of lightning over Ōhōpe in Bay of Plenty this morning. Video / Damian Rahmann
Surface flooding has caused a school to close in Eastern Bay of Plenty after a lightning and thunderstorm passed over the region this morning.
A thunderstorm watch has now lifted for Bay of Plenty and Rotorua.
Tāneatua School was closed as a precaution, the school said on Facebook.
“Please keeptamariki [children] at home today,” the school said.
“All conditions suggest we may have to evacuate tamariki today. It’s hosing down in a thunder and lightning storm. There is a lot of surface flooding. Rivers and drains are at capacity. Some kaiako [teachers] are unable to get to kura [school].”
Thunderstorms lit up the sky over Eastern Bay of Plenty, with one resident saying there seemed to be two storms this morning.
Flooding on Alpha Ave in Coastlands. Photo / Anna Hughes
Ōhōpe resident Damian Rahmann said the storm seemed to last around an hour from 6.45am, with an earlier storm hitting around 12.30am.
“[It was] a double wake-up call from Mother Nature. There were periods of torrential rain and strong winds that went along with it at times too,” Rahmann said.
Whakatāne District Council said there was surface flooding on several streets with teams clearing slips and managing areas where water was still receding.
“Please take extra care near waterways, low-lying areas, and known trouble spots.”
MetService said there were just over a 1000 lighting strikes over the Bay of Plenty this morning.
“As the line of thunderstorms moved across this morning the heaviest rain was between 7am and 8am,” a spokesman for the agency said.
“There was 12.8mm of rain recorded at the Whakatane Airport. A little further to the east, at Wainui Te Whara, there was 37mm of rain recorded in the same hour.”
