Fallen trees have been a major issue across Tasman District after heavy rain and strong winds. Photo / Gayle Petch
Fallen trees have been a major issue across Tasman District after heavy rain and strong winds. Photo / Gayle Petch
An unstable air mass bringing clouds and widespread showers will dominate the final day of the school holidays – but will still provide much-needed respite after days of severe flooding, landslides and evacuations.
A risk of thunderstorms remains for the West Coast of the South Island and Taranaki Maungathis afternoon.
MetService meteorologist Brian Mercer told the Herald the severe weather experienced across the country on Friday will continue to ease, with minimal watches and warnings still in place.
Urban Search and Rescue attended a small landslip on Motutara Rd, Muriwai. Photo / Hayden Woodward
“It’s going to be a showery, northwesterly flow. Most of those showers are going to be confined to western areas. Both islands basically from Auckland down as far as Fiordland.
“Some of those showers could be heavy with possible thunderstorms about the West Coast of the South Island in the afternoon and evening, and possibly around Taranaki Maunga during the afternoon as well,” Mercer said.
The best place to be today is the eastern coastline of the North Island, from Gisborne down to Wairarapa, with the temperature in Napier possibly reaching 18C.
“There’s quite a lot of cloud around, so there’s not going to be any bright sunshine, but the best place where you’re going to see some sunny breaks would certainly be on the east coast of both islands,” Mercer said.
Auckland and Northland will receive a few showers in the morning, which will likely become more widespread before easing in the evening.
What’s in store for the flood-stricken Nelson-Tasman region?
The early part of the morning will be clear for residents dealing with the aftermath of Friday’s heavy rain and flooding across the Nelson-Tasman region.
“There might be one or two light showers around the ranges before dawn, but certainly when anyone’s getting up, it should be clear.”
From the afternoon, most places are likely to have one or two showers, but they don’t look like being heavy at this stage.
A view from a New Zealand Defence Force helicopter during Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour's visit to Nelson to witness the aftermath of the floods. Photo / Tim Cuff
Severe flooding, widespread outages and evacuations
Nelson Mayor Nick Smith said a massive effort went into restoring power, communications, drinking water supply (Kaiteriteri and Tapawera’s water supplies are restored but subject to boil water notices), and reopening roads yesterday.
“Beyond the immediate infrastructure issues, the big problem for [the] region is the damage to our productive sectors.
“There is significant additional damage to farms and orchards in Wai-iti, Dovedale, Tapawera and Ngatimoti.
“There are hundreds of hectares of production forests downed by the combo of strong winds and the trees weakened by roots in saturated soil – the timber lost will be tens of millions’ worth,” Smith said.
A post shared on multiple Facebook community pages about a woman being heard in distress on a ham radio channel during flooding in the upper South Island on Friday was a hoax, Civil Defence said.
Many state highways connecting the region with neighbouring ones are closed, and some have only limited access for emergency services.
SH6 Rocks Rd remained completely closed until at least this evening.
Emergency services in Auckland responded to a “small localised landslide” at Muriwai on Auckland’s northwest coast, and three properties were initially evacuated.
Chris Lind, Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s Assistant Commander for Waitematā, said the landslide was a result of rain over the last couple of days.
Watches and warnings
A heavy rain watch remains for the ranges of the Westland District until 3am tomorrow, which will bring periods of heavy rain with possible thunderstorms.
Two road snowfall warnings remain in place until 3pm today on Crown Range Rd and Lindis Pass (SH8).
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