Wet weather causes crashes and slips

File photo / Wanganui Chronicle

Wet weather lashing New Zealand has caused slips and crashes overnight, with one car flipping onto its roof and a van ending up wedged on a median barrier.

MetService has issued a severe weather warning for the Bay of Plenty, with 15-20mm forecast for Whakatane for the two hours from 9am.

The Bay of Plenty region was forecast to receive the most rain overnight but central and lower North Island was worst hit, with minor flooding across the Wellington region and slips in Taumarunui and the Wellington suburb of Seatoun.

There's also been surface flooding just south of Levin across part of State Highway One.

In Paraparaumu 44mm fell from 8pm to 8am this morning, MetService said.

Senior Sergeant Marty Edghill of police central communications said there were about 10 minor weather related crashes in the lower North Island but nobody was hurt.

"That's quite a few for a Monday night. People aren't driving to the conditions," he told NZPA.

Police were still attending a crash on the Wainuiomata Hill east of Lower Hutt, where a van was wedged on a median barrier.

The woman in the van was alright but emergency workers were still working to remove the vehicle.

"The trouble with that one is we can't get it off," Mr Edghill said.

In another incident overnight a car flipped onto its roof in the Hutt Valley.

"They were all seat-belted in, so they were lucky."

Mr Edghill said people should drive to the conditions as the rain continued.

"It's always better getting to work. There's nothing worse than pranging your car," he said.

"When you have a period of dry weather and you have all of a sudden wet weather, the road gets a film on it from the oil and the rubber and the grease. It takes a while for that to wash away and of course the roads at certain points get greasy."

Police further north and in the South Island reported no major weather related incidents overnight.

MetService forecaster Ian Miller said the rain was still fairly widespread over northern and central New Zealand, with a severe rain warning still in place for Eastern Bay of Plenty until this afternoon.

"The rain has eased there in the last few hours but there's still a bit more to come this morning," he told NZPA.

Heavy showers were heading in from the Tasman Sea to the north and west of the North Island and were likely to bring hail today.

"Although rain has been fairly widespread and there have been some heavy falls, mostly it's trending into more heavy squally showers in the north and west of the North Island this morning," he said.

"There's a front going over at the moment. That brings another heavy burst of rain to Eastern Bay of Plenty but the front moves off this afternoon."

Further south the weather was expected to put extra pressure on Christchurch's quake-damaged sewage network, with Civil Defence asking residents to step up water conservation efforts to help relieve the strain.

MetService said 18mm of rain has fallen in the past 24-hours, 3.8mm falling between 9pm and 10pm. Elsewhere in Canterbury 30mm fell in the last 24-hours.

Christchurch city water and waste manager Mark Christison said drain water was leaking into the wastewater network through broken pipes, increasing pressure on the badly damaged Christchurch wastewater treatment plant.

"When it rains, even more water leaks into the system and the situation is worsened."

People in the worst hit areas were asked to use either chemical toilets or portable toilets to relieve pressure on the network and all residents were asked to limit the time they spent in the shower.

Good progress was being made on repairing the city's sewerage network but there was still a lot to be done.

Residents were also warned that wet weather could make conditions slippery in areas where a lot of silt had built up following the quake.

This comes as central city business owners were told they could attend a series of meetings from Thursday to help them recover from the quake.

Civil Defence also said they were working on a plan with the Hospitality Association of New Zealand (HANZ) to remove smelly rotting food from businesses abandoned following the quake.

The plan was for HANZ to provide a sucker truck and cleaning materials to remove the food.