MetService Weather: 2nd of July - 4th of July. Video / Metservice
Storm-battered regions of the country are in for another hammering from mid-week, with thunder, heavy rain and tornadoes possible, MetService says.
MetService meteorologist Kgolofelo Dube said a weather system would build over the Tasman Sea on Wednesday, ready to descend on the hardest-hit areas with a fresh wave ofdownpours.
She said it was possible that more thunderstorms would be embedded into the system along with substantial, localised heavy downpours.
“With their soil already saturated, that may pose a lot of problems for them,” Dube said.
Flooding on SH6 Kotahu, by the Motueka River. Photo / NZTA
Dube said Auckland was also at risk of flooding again with the large amount of rain that had already fallen, along with the debris caused by severe winds that blew through Thursday, taking down fences, trees and powerlines and collapsing buildings.
On Wednesday, Dube said the first half of the day was expected to be settled across the country before the front in the north Tasman Sea approached the North Island.
This would start to bring rain and strengthen northeasterly winds to the northern North Island later in the day, especially in the Northland area.
Overnight, the front was expected to move southeastwards over New Zealand, bringing with it the rain and strong northeasterly winds.
The front was expected to move off the country on Friday morning, before it was replaced by a large low later in the day.
This renewed the risk of a fresh dumping of rain on Tasman and northern Marlborough as well as areas in the central North Island.
Tornadoes, heavy rain, winds and snow dumps pummelled the country for 48 hours last week, resulting in the serious damage of entire communities.
A building suffered severe damage in Avondale as a result of the storm. Photo / Hayden Woodward
Tasman District Deputy Mayor Stuart Bryant told HeraldNOW’s Ryan Bridge that the damage was “very severe”.
Bryant said they were nervous about the next incoming deluge and hoped they would not get as much rain as forecast.
He said substantial land had been lost to the river, and the damage was concentrated mostly on farmers who had fences washed away, among other things.
“A lot of pasture was damaged, and some bales washed away and down the river.
“So yeah, there will be demand for supplementary feed to support those farmers that have had particularly large damage to their paddocks or crops that they use for wintering livestock.”
Aerial photos showed extensive flooding in Riwaka, near Motueka. Photo / James Thomas
He said they were looking at months of recovery, especially with the debilitated roading network, with the number of bridges that had been washed out in the storm.
He also said recent modelling proved this was the worst flood in “40-plus years”.
He died at the scene and the incident has been referred to the coroner.
Smith said key infrastructure in the region had been severely damaged.
He said the stormwaters had been so strong that a large amount of contaminants had entered the coastal area and Tasman Bay.
“That’s been compounded by some of our wastewater across the region and, for that reason, a rāhui on swimming and taking shellfish in Tasman Bay has been imposed.”
Meanwhile, along with helping the region recover, Civil Defence Minister Mark Mitchell told Ryan Bridge he was committed to finding a way to get a rain radar to the area so they can better prepare in the future.
