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

NZ Herald·

3 May, 2020 05:00 PM6 mins to read

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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