NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Wild weather: Falling trees hit cars, block roads overnight - and there's more to come

By Dubby Henry & Lincoln Tan
NZ Herald·
3 May, 2020 05:00 PM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

More rain is in the forecast for most of the country this week. Photo / File
More rain is in the forecast for most of the country this week. Photo / File

More rain is in the forecast for most of the country this week. Photo / File

Brace yourself for more wet and wild weather - the rain that hit on Sunday is expected to linger for a while longer in some parts of the country.

Wild weather kept New Zealand fire fighters busy overnight, as falling trees landed on cars and blocked roads while heavy rain caused flooding in parts of the North Island.

Fire and Emergency NZ northern shift manager Colin Underdown was aware of 14 callouts between 6pm last night and 5am this morning, including fallen trees blocking roads in Hunua, Miranda, Matamata, Kaihere, the Far North, Paengaroa in the Bay of Plenty and on Auckland's Northwestern motorway.

SEND US YOUR WEATHER PICS AND VIDEOS

Downpours in Auckland around midnight caused flooding inside a house in Lochiel Rd in Remuera as well as on Mt Eden Rd and in Māngere.

MetService meteorologist Rob Kerr said between 10pm Sunday and 1am Monday a band of heavy rain brought downpours of 15-25mm in just one hour to parts of the city. Just 6mm an hour is considered heavy rain.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In South Auckland a tree that fell on a van about 9pm was blocking Karaka Rd, police said last night. Both driver and passenger escaped unharmed.

Underdown said overnight a house in Hastings also had roofing iron lifted by the winds, while a tree had fallen on a car in a driveway in Whakatāne.

READ MORE:
• Weather: Wild weather on way to New Zealand from Australia
• Weather: Rain, winds batter Auckland, New Zealand as storm hits
• Weather: Blustery front expected to deliver much-needed rain to drought-hit Northland
• Your weather: Showers and thunderstorms for much of central New Zealand

Heavy rain also caused havoc yesterday with slips blocking roads, heavy rain flooding buildings and strong winds downing power lines and bringing a tree down on a house.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A locked-down New Zealand had to batten down the hatches as the wet and windy storm battered the country.

Parts of Auckland were drenched on Sunday afternoon with up to 23.5mm of rain falling in just six hours.

👇 Watch the weather recap from our active weekend as seen from above 🛰️

Hoping to top up the water tanks some more❓ Rain and showers are set to continue for many overnight and Monday 🌧️ pic.twitter.com/lnKfLtr378

— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) May 3, 2020

Firefighters used chainsaws to remove a tree that smashed onto a roof on Hume Dr in Hillcrest about 3.30pm.

Fire and Emergency NZ shift manager Craig Dally told the Herald yesterday firefighters were then sent to a Karangahape Rd building which had flooded.

Discover more

New Zealand

Thanks, cobber: Wild Oz weather system heading our way

02 May 05:59 PM
New Zealand

Weekend worriers: Police turn away hordes from Auckland beach

02 May 11:00 PM
New Zealand

Wild weather surges north as wind gusts of over 100km/h batter centres

02 May 10:17 PM
New Zealand

Hunkering down in lockdown: Slips, flooding as wild storm hits NZ

03 May 10:19 AM

At about 7pm, police were called to Pukekohe where trees had fallen on to a van.

High winds also lashed Wellington, and earlier across Canterbury, where gusts hit 104km/h at Le Bons Bay on Banks Peninsula just before midday.

Kerr said in the 24 hours to 5am many areas had had in excess of 40mm of rain, which was a "reasonable hit".

Drought-stricken Northland has also received a decent amount of rain - with Kerikeri getting 45.6mm, mostly between 10am and 10pm. However Whangarei only saw 15mm and Kaitaia barely got 11mm.

The Central Plateau had received 160mm over 24 hours on the Desert Rd, while a weather station high in Taranaki had seen 270mm - "but they often get a ridiculous amount of rain up there".

Forecasters expect Canterbury and Otago high country areas to get decent snow dumps early this week and temperatures are set to plummet over the day, thanks to a predicted southerly blast.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Monday’s national forecast https://t.co/eHjQE29dyH via @weatherwatchnz

— WeatherWatch.co.nz (@WeatherWatchNZ) May 3, 2020

Snow is forecast to around 700m and MetService is warning that frosts are possible in some South Island spots.

The West Coast has been lashed by rain - up to 150mm in the past 24 hours, Kerr said - and residents were asked by MetService to brace for possible thunderstorms.

State Highway 6 east of Westport was closed on Sunday morning, between Inangahua and Westport, with slips at each end of the Lower Buller Gorge, at Uranium Point and at Inangahua.

Heavy rain watches and warnings are in place for the ranges of Westland, south of Otira, Taranaki, eastern Bay of Plenty hills, and Tongariro National Park and the Kaimanawa Range.

Some Wellingtonians woke up to the sound of rubbish being scattered across their streets, and had to endure a strong northerly wind howling through the capital coupled with lashings of rain on their Sunday.

Heavy showers and thunderstorms continue to be on the cards for Marlborough, Nelson, Buller, Westland and Fiordland over the next couple of days.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

An active front preceded by a strong moist northerly flow is forecast to move eastwards across the North Island today, delivering a period of strong northerly winds and heavy rain to many parts of the Island.

Surfers enjoyed the mucky weather at Takapuna beach on Sunday
Surfers enjoyed the mucky weather at Takapuna beach on Sunday. Video / Grant Bradley ...
Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
/
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
0:00
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time -0:00
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
    • captions off, selected

      This is a modal window.

      Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

      Text
      Text Background
      Caption Area Background
      Font Size
      Text Edge Style
      Font Family

      End of dialog window.

      This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.

      Three club rugby players suspended, one charged after opposing player allegedly coward-punched

      UP NEXT:

      NOW PLAYING • Surfers enjoyed the mucky weather at Takapuna beach on Sunday
      Surfers enjoyed the mucky weather at Takapuna beach on Sunday. Video / Grant Bradley ...

      For the North Island, except for Gisborne and Hawkes Bay, expect rain to turn into some squally and thundery showers.

      On the bright side, the weather will improve as the week goes by.

      By Wednesday, showers and rain will start clearing with the weather becoming fine in most parts, except for Fiordland and coastal Southland. The Desert Rd can expect snow.

      Thursday will bring fine weather to most of the North Island with isolated showers in the west.

      Mainly fine weather will be enjoyed in most parts of the North Island on Friday, with just showers in the west and south of the South Island which will also have fine weather elsewhere.

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.
      The Lower Huia dam in Auckland's Waitākere Ranges is below 40 per cent full. Photo / Supplied
      The Lower Huia dam in Auckland's Waitākere Ranges is below 40 per cent full. Photo / Supplied

      Watercare said the Auckland dams were at 45.8 per cent yesterday.

      The city is likely to see water restrictions imposed this month thanks to a severe drought.

      "This afternoon's rainfall is welcome but won't change the overall picture," a Watercare spokeswoman said.

      THE HIGHS AND LOWS: MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES IN THE MAIN CENTRES TODAY AND TUESDAY
      Auckland today 21C, Tuesday 18C
      Hamilton today 20C, Tuesday 17C
      Wellington today 18C, Tuesday 13C
      Christchurch today: 23C, Tuesday: 12C
      Dunedin today 19C, Tuesday 10C

      Save

        Share this article

      Latest from New Zealand

      New Zealand

      'Haunted by pain': Tourist campervan crash victim thankful to be alive

      14 Jun 07:45 PM
      Premium
      Editorial

      Editorial: Why Auckland’s traffic woes demand urgent solutions

      14 Jun 06:00 PM
      New Zealand

      'A lot of fun': Planting project rewarding for farming couple

      14 Jun 05:01 PM

      It was just a stopover – 18 months later, they call it home

      sponsored
      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.
      Recommended for you
      Minnesota lawmaker killed in ‘politically motivated assassination’ - governor
      World

      Minnesota lawmaker killed in ‘politically motivated assassination’ - governor

      14 Jun 07:11 PM
      Adams signs $65m NBA deal
      NBA

      Adams signs $65m NBA deal

      14 Jun 07:09 PM
      Israel, Iran trade threats as conflict escalates
      World

      Israel, Iran trade threats as conflict escalates

      14 Jun 06:48 PM
      'Our home': Ex-rugby star's emotional plea as Western Springs consultation comes to close
      Sport

      'Our home': Ex-rugby star's emotional plea as Western Springs consultation comes to close

      14 Jun 06:25 PM
      Tourism boycott over council cutting Tourism BOP funding
      Bay of Plenty Times

      Tourism boycott over council cutting Tourism BOP funding

      14 Jun 06:00 PM

      Latest from New Zealand

      'Haunted by pain': Tourist campervan crash victim thankful to be alive

      'Haunted by pain': Tourist campervan crash victim thankful to be alive

      14 Jun 07:45 PM

      Hazel Jamieson suffered multiple fractures and significant bruising in the crash.

      Premium
      Editorial: Why Auckland’s traffic woes demand urgent solutions

      Editorial: Why Auckland’s traffic woes demand urgent solutions

      14 Jun 06:00 PM
      'A lot of fun': Planting project rewarding for farming couple

      'A lot of fun': Planting project rewarding for farming couple

      14 Jun 05:01 PM
      Why every garden needs a persimmon tree

      Why every garden needs a persimmon tree

      14 Jun 05:00 PM
      The woman behind NZ’s first PAK’nSAVE
      sponsored

      The woman behind NZ’s first PAK’nSAVE

      NZ Herald
      • About NZ Herald
      • Meet the journalists
      • Newsletters
      • Classifieds
      • Help & support
      • Contact us
      • House rules
      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms of use
      • Competition terms & conditions
      • Our use of AI
      Subscriber Services
      • NZ Herald e-editions
      • Daily puzzles & quizzes
      • Manage your digital subscription
      • Manage your print subscription
      • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
      • Subscribe to Herald Premium
      • Gift a subscription
      • Subscriber FAQs
      • Subscription terms & conditions
      • Promotions and subscriber benefits
      NZME Network
      • The New Zealand Herald
      • The Northland Age
      • The Northern Advocate
      • Waikato Herald
      • Bay of Plenty Times
      • Rotorua Daily Post
      • Hawke's Bay Today
      • Whanganui Chronicle
      • Viva
      • NZ Listener
      • Newstalk ZB
      • BusinessDesk
      • OneRoof
      • Driven Car Guide
      • iHeart Radio
      • Restaurant Hub
      NZME
      • About NZME
      • NZME careers
      • Advertise with NZME
      • Digital self-service advertising
      • Book your classified ad
      • Photo sales
      • NZME Events
      • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
      TOP
      search by queryly Advanced Search