Weather: North Island’s new storm threat, 55-hours of rain to drench north, downpours, gales in south

Another round of wild weather is set to hit New Zealand, with gales and heavy rain that threaten to cause flooding and slips.

A slew of weather alerts are now in place for the incoming storm boomeranging back onto the North Island.

Northland is preparing for a mammoth 55 hours of rain from early tomorrow morning, while Westland is expected to get a month’s worth of rain in less than two days.

Tropical air continues to stream down over the country in coming days bringing more heavy rain to many areas already inundated earlier in the week.

The wild weather extends to the South Island with MetService warning of gales off the West Coast, and heavy rain which could lead to rapidly rising rivers and flooding.

Bay of Plenty, Taranaki and Tongariro National Park are also in line for up to 48 hours of rain, with deluges across the day.

A tropically-charged storm continues to lash many parts of the country as more moisture-laden weather systems move in as the week progresses.

Two schools were forced to close in the Eastern Bay of Plenty this morning due to conditions and one lane of State Highway 34, also in the Bay of Plenty, is now open after being closed this morning after a slip came down across the road.

Buller is in for the long haul, with 66 hours of rainfall already falling and predicted to last until early Friday.

MetService has warned rain is forecast to ease this evening, and then reintensify on Wednesday morning.

As the subtropical low moves across the southern South Island today, gale marine warnings are in place for Foveaux, Grey, Milford and Puysegur.

Auckland in firing line

MetService today said Auckland’s weather would start to pack up once more with showers and heavy downpours this afternoon.

However, the city would be back in the firing line from Wednesday, giving only a few days’ respite from the weekend’s downpours.

“For Auckland, Waikato, Waitomo, the central high country, Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty and the far north of Gisborne, there is moderate confidence of heavy rain on Wednesday and low confidence on Thursday,” MetService said.

The Bay of Plenty has already been hit hard by the band of heavy rain yesterday, bringing down slips and a power pole that narrowly missed a motorcyclist.

Tauranga Airport recorded 33mm in the 24 hours to 3pm, with the heaviest rainfall totalling about 8.2mm and coming between 9am and 10am. The rain station at Te Puke recorded about 30mm in 24 hours with Coromandel receiving 81mm.

A large tree fell on State Highway 2 at Bethlehem, between Te Paeroa Rd and Wairoa Pa Rd. The northbound lane was temporarily blocked while the tree was cleared.

Powerco said in a statement that extra crews were on the ground ready to make repairs and restore power to customers in the region.