Calmer, cooler weather is on the way across the country after a week of severe rain and lethal flooding in the North Island.
There are rain and wind warnings in place today, but Auckland and other regions left sodden by record rainfall are not in the firing line.
A new front was coming across the South Island this morning, said MetService meteorologist Karl Loots.
“This is bringing heavy rain to the west coast of the South Island, and also pretty strong winds,” he said.
Between 80mm and 130mm of rain was expected in Fiordland and 200-300mm of rain in Westland before 6pm. Wind gusts could reach 120km/h in Fiordland and 100km/h in Central Otago.
That front will make its way to the North Island for Waitangi Day tomorrow, bringing rain to most regions.
“For those in the Far North that’s probably not particularly welcome, at this stage everything is so saturated,” Loots said. “But the good news it will just be a period of rain in the morning and early afternoon, then it clears out thereafter.”
Most of the country would then get a more settled period of weather until Wednesday.
In Auckland, some showers are expected tonight and tomorrow morning but they will give way to fine weather on Tuesday and most of Wednesday, with temperatures expected to reach around 25C.
The two weather fronts arriving today and on Wednesday would bring an end to the muggy weather being felt across New Zealand.
“There is going to be a big change,” Loots said. “It has been real hot and humid all over the country, and this front is bringing a bit of cooling. And the front on Wednesday will bring temperatures down even more.”
In Christchurch, which has had three 30C days in a row, the highs will drop to around 19C.
The impact of the severe weather over the last week is still being felt by holidaymakers.
Traffic will still be slow going on the Coromandel Peninsula - with State Highway 25A between Kopu and Hikuai remaining closed because of a full collapse, and traffic on SH25 is slower, with lanes closed and temporarily lower speed limits because of the weather’s impacts. Serious cracks and slumping have also closed State Highway 23 between Whatawhata and Raglan.
Today’s finer northern weather comes after Auckland’s state of emergency was extended another seven days because the city was still responding to the crisis.
Eighty building inspectors were out doing safety checks, with 253 properties now having been red-stickered and 1351 receiving yellow stickers since Friday last week.
Auckland Emergency Management duty controller Rachel Kelleher reminded those homeowners who have properties that were affected by floodwaters but who haven’t been visited by a property inspector to reach out to authorities.
When asked if there was a possibility people were laying dying or injured in their homes because they had no one to check on them, Kelleher said she was confident they had the response teams in place should anyone need to call for help.
There are now 27 roads closed around Auckland, she said.
Hundreds of claims have already been lodged for injuries sustained in the floods, including broken bones and soft tissue damage.
Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) figures obtained by NZME show in the period between January 27 and February 2, a total of 287 claims made by people who were injured in the floods had been accepted.
Aucklanders affected by the region’s devastating floods should soon begin receiving compensation payments from a more than $1.3 million relief fund.
Auckland Council said its staff are already assessing applications for relief money and “aim to start making payments from next Tuesday”.
The fund is for those experiencing hardship from flooding and landslips with more than 300 applications received since it was set up last Tuesday, council chief commercial officer of partnership Phil Wilson said.
“We are dealing with a lot of applications and there are likely to be more coming in over the next few days,” he said.