Storm battering gets fierce

The damage to land in Central Hawkes Bay has been described as 'huge'. Photo / NZPA

Gales and torrential rain were hammering parts of the North Island early today - nature's latest strike in a week of stormy weather that has left central Hawkes Bay in a state of emergency.

Weather forecasters yesterday predicted up to 120mm of rain would fall in Northland in just 24 hours, with 15mm of rain an hour expected in some parts.

Heavy rain warnings are also in place in Coromandel and Bay of Plenty this morning.

The latest deluge comes after a week of storms that caused widespread flooding on the east coast of the North Island.

Hawkes Bay is still in a state of a emergency as the clean-up of landslips and flooding continues.

The wild weather forced the evacuation of more than 100 people from 14 coastal communities.

Civil Defence has extended the state of emergency to ensure motorists stay clear of dangerous roads and so the local councils can fix problems such as disrupted water supplies.

Central Hawkes Bay Mayor Peter Butler said last week's storms had "ruined the region" and the cleanup would take more than six months.

"It's bad down here. Entire cliff-faces of farmland are lying at the bottom of the valley and are being washed out to sea ... A lot of people have lost their livelihoods."

Many roads damaged by slips or fallouts might never be reopened, Mr Butler said. "The damage is huge. It may never be the same here again."

On Saturday, up to five children were evacuated by helicopter from Aramoana and eight people by four-wheel drive from Mangakuri.

Mr Butler said it was expected to take up to three weeks to reopen the road to Aramoana, and access to the southern end of Pourerere Beach was closed indefinitely.

The Earthquake Commission had received 124 claims from the Hawkes Bay storm but that number was expected to grow significantly, chief executive Ian Simpson said.

Meanwhile, the top of the North Island was battered by galeforce winds of up to 135km/h yesterday and residents were bracing themselves last night for a deluge of rain.

MetService duty forecaster Heath Gullery predicted that up to 120mm would fall on Northland in 24 hours and was likely to cause flooding.

The eastern hills area was expected to get up to 15mm an hour.

Far North Mayor Wayne Brown said residents were taking "sensible precautions" and were taking the warnings seriously.

However, he said, most did not know what to expect because thousands of homes and businesses were without power all yesterday.

The outage was in line with a Transpower plan made weeks ago to do maintenance on a transmission line that supplies the area.

"Most people have no idea about the warnings because they've been disconnected all day so they haven't been able to find out what's going on," Mr Brown said. "But because they were prepared for the power cut, they have supplies for the storm."

Mangonui fire station chief officer Peter Sainsbury said the winds had knocked over trees and powerlines in the township.

Severe weather warnings were also issued for the Coromandel Peninsula and the Bay of Plenty today and tomorrow as the weather front moved south over the country.

The bad weather postponed the opening of the fourth southbound lane on the Southern Motorway between the Newmarket Viaduct and the Greenlane exit, which was supposed to happen last night. The Transport Agency said the work would be finished during the next fine night.

Weather Watch chief analyst Philip Duncan said blustery winds in parts of Auckland gusted to about 80km/h last night.

"One report came in from the CBD saying they were hearing things breaking and being blown off balconies. In the city we have the wind-tunnel effect caused by the high-rise buildings.

"I wouldn't be surprised if there are gusts in the city centre of 100km/h or even 120km/h."

Mr Duncan said the weather low coming down from New Caledonia was stopped north of Cape Reinga by a high over the country and would now slowly move out in an arc into the Tasman Sea.

"The high will move away, so the low will curve around and hit the South Island on Wednesday. So rain warnings are likely on Tuesday for the South Island.

"This low is going to be with us for the week, and will affect different regions on different dates."

- additional reporting: Nicholas Jones, NZPA