Helena Bay has been hit hard by heavy rain overnight in Northland. Video / Liv Patu
Wet weather is expected to continue for Northland next week following today’s torrential rain and flooding.
Some parts of the region got 200mm of rain as heavy downpours overnight caused power outages, slips and road damage, felled trees and cut off certain areas.
Floodwaters in Parua Bay, Northland. Photo / Kathy Wallace
MetService meteorologist Devlin Lynden toldthe Herald that Northland and other east coast areas like the Coromandel are likely to get showers through tomorrow and Tuesday.
“The hope is that things will be a bit drier as people clean up, but unfortunately it’s looking like, particularly for Northland and other eastern areas of the North Island, there’s a general easterly flow that’s pushing moisture into those areas.”
Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay and the Bay of Plenty are also looking damp, he said.
Monday and Tuesday will not have torrential rain like today’s downpours, but “continual drizzly showers” will stick around much of the North Island’s east coast.
On Wednesday, heavy rain and strong northeasterly winds are expected to hit the top of the North Island as a system moves south from the tropics.
The MetService severe weather outlook said the forecaster is 30-60% confident that “warning amounts of rain” will fall in northern and eastern Northland.
For the rest of Northland, Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula, MetService is 10-30% confident a rainfall warning will be needed.
The weather authority is 30-60% sure that northeast winds will reach severe gale speeds in exposed places in Northland, Auckland and Coromandel.
The system will spread south through Wednesday and into Thursday, bringing the rain and wind with it, Lynden said.
For the South Island, the West Coast is looking sunny, while overcast conditions are expected in the east early next week.
“Canterbury right up to coastal Kaikōura, the Sounds and also down to Dunedin, there is cloud sticking around those areas and that is expected to remain pretty persistent right the way through till probably late Wednesday, early Thursday,” Lynden said.
