SH25 at Tairua, where the water reached bonnet level in some places with this bridge almost completely under water. Photo / Grant Sanders
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The worst of the wild weather that caused havoc across Auckland and the Coromandel peninsula today is now over, but the Bay of Plenty is the latest region to by hit by torrential downpours.
Firefighters are currently working at flooded properties in Papamoa and Mt Maunganui, where some streets are
a foot underwater, said a fire service spokesman.
A family trapped by floodwaters in their car on Mt Maunganui's Oceanbeach Rd had to be rescued by firefighters this afternoon.
The fire service was kept busy with flooding across the Auckland region today. Houses and shops were flooded in Mt Roskill, One Tree Hill, Epsom, Mt Wellington, Papatoetoe and Pakuranga.
The Supervalue Supermarket in Otahuhu was flooded as was the Southdown Industrial Park in Penrose, which was the site of a massive blaze at the old freezing works two weeks ago.
In Franklin, five houses were flooded at the settlement of Clarks Beach, as were two houses on the Manukau Peninsula.
In the Coromandel, Whitianga was worst affected with flooding at eight houses, which were drained by firefighters using portable pumps. In one house, an occupant on crutches was trapped upstairs, said a fire service spokesman.
Flooding on State Highway 1 in Tairua put a bridge almost entirely underwater. A police spokesman said the bridge was still closed this afternoon but was expected to reopen once the tide went down.
MetService forecaster Cameron Coutts said Coromandel was the worst hit today, with 138mm of rain falling in Whitianga over the last 24 hours. Between 8am and 9am this morning, 29.4mm fell in just one hour.
Coutts said the system responsible for the rain had moved through "reasonably quickly", and Aucklanders could expect relatively fine weather for the next couple of days with just the odd shower passing through.
The Coromandel had also seen the worst of the system, said Coutts, but Northland should expect some thundery showers tomorrow afternoon.
Heavy rain in the Bay of Plenty should pass by midnight tonight.
Coutts said Aucklanders should prepare for further unsettled weather come Sunday, when a similar weather system was expected to hit the region.
